MADISON, Wisconsin – The Wisconsin State Senate is voting to overturn Governor Tony Evers’ state mask mandate by submitting the resolution to the State Assembly.
A total of 18 state senators voted to revoke the mandate, while 13 voted against the resolution. Two Republicans – Senator Dale Kooyenga and Senator Robert Cowles – voted against the termination of the mandate.
Twenty-nine Republican lawmakers put their names on the resolution that would nullify the state’s only measure in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In a separate session of the Assembly on Tuesday, spokesman Robin Vos said he would probably only bring the matter up for a vote when the measure passed the Senate. That vote is scheduled for Thursday.
The Senate vote followed well over four hours of debate between Democratic and Republican senators, even as medical professionals across the state asked the legislature not to support the resolution. Twenty-three lobbyist associations registered their opposition to the legislation, including the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Hospital Association and others. Opponent numbers went up over the course of Tuesday; no group, however, had registered its support.
“We ask all of our government leaders to support doctors and other frontline healthcare professionals by promoting the use of a mask as an effective tool against COVID-19,” said Wisconsin Medical Society CEO Bud Chumbley, MD, in a statement.
“Make no mistake, if the Senate votes in favor of revoking the mask’s mandate, we will see an increase in deaths and illnesses in Wisconsin, and we will see this pandemic worsening and economic devastation continuing,” Madison-area State Sen. Kelda Roys said in a press conference with Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday morning. “Health professionals and frontline workers are begging us to wear masks.
Michigan is currently the only state without a state emergency order, according to the National Governor’s Association, and forty-one states have masking mandates in place according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.
The resolution argues that the legislature never gave Governor Evers the authority to extend the public health emergency order that provides the basis for the mask’s mandate after its initial 60-day period starting in March. An analysis by the Legislative Reference Office stipulates that all subsequent public health emergencies declared since then were illegal, according to the state Supreme Court decision in May, which overruled the Safer at Home order.
“It is not a matter of whether the masks are good or bad, but of repeatedly issuing emergency orders contrary to what the law allows,” said the author of the resolution, Senator Steve Nass.
Democrats said the change was political, as it comes after many lawmakers faced re-election in the 2020 general election.
“The rest of society is wondering what the hell are we doing here today,” asked Democratic Senator Chris Larson. “If it’s not political, why don’t we vote for it in August?”
Tuesday’s vote does not impact county-level masking mandates like those in effect in Dane and Milwaukee counties. The Wisconsin mask mandate is the only statewide mandate related to protection against COVID-19.
The CDC recommends the use of masks as one of the best ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19, medical advice widely shared in the medical community and a directive that has been in place since the beginning of the pandemic last year.
COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, TRANSMITTED, RECOMMENDED OR REDISTRIBUTED.