The Arkansas State Legislature met Wednesday and Thursday during a special legislative session called by Governor Asa Hutchinson to discuss Act 1002, which makes it so that property owned by the state cannot have a mask mandate enforced.
The House Committee for Health, Welfare, and Public Safety brought two new bills to vote on, one never made it out of committee, and the other failed after a vote.
As of now the Act and its law will remain the same, but multiple school districts across the state of Arkansas have filed lawsuits against the state, calling the law unconstitutional.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson released the following statement discussing his thoughts:
“I am disappointed by the actions of the House Public Health Committee today. It is conservative, reasonable, and compassionate to allow local school districts to protect those who are under 12 and not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The cases and quarantine at the Marion School District during the last week illustrate the urgency of action. If we are going to have a successful school year then the local school districts need to have the flexibility to protect those who are at risk.”
Governor Hutchinson enacted a statewide mask mandate during the beginning of the pandemic, but now says he will not support another.
As mentioned in the Governor’s statement, Marion School District is adding COVID-19 cases daily.
13 new cases were reported yesterday at the school, 839 people are now under quarantine due to close exposure without a mask.
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