Senator Lewis Votes to end mask mandates in schools

RICHMOND, Va. (AP/ShoreSailyNews.com) — A bipartisan majority in the Virginia Senate capped more than an hour of debate Wednesday by voting to pass legislation that would ban public school systems from imposing mask requirements on students. The measure now heads to the GOP-controlled House of Delegates, which is expected to advance it to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for his signature.

Youngkin, whose efforts to end mask mandates by executive order are bogged down in legal challenges, has cheered on the legislation, which emerged in the Senate just a day earlier.

“Kids across the Commonwealth win with this bipartisan vote today,” he said in a statement.

Moderate Democrat Chap Petersen sponsored an amendment on the Senate floor Tuesday to a Republican bill dealing with requirements for in-person school instruction. His amendment, which was adopted with broad bipartisan support, said parents may elect for their child to not wear a mask at school. Petersen said Wednesday, when the amended bill was up for a final vote, that he expected additional dialogue on the issue as the legislative session continues. But he sought to make the case that it was time to stop forcing mandates on families.

“I don’t have a doctorate in medicine, but I do have a doctorate in common sense,” he said. Two other Democrats, Joe Morrissey and Lynwood Lewis, joined with Petersen and Republicans in voting for the bill’s passage Wednesday. It cleared the chamber on a 21-17 vote.

Once the measure reaches Youngkin’s desk, the governor is planning to add an emergency clause to the bill, according to spokesperson Macaulay Porter. An emergency clause — if approved by the legislature — means a bill takes effect upon the governor’s signature.

A governor’s emergency clause used to require a four-fifths vote in the House for passage. House Clerk Paul Nardo said Tuesday that Democrats dropped the rule for the governor under then-Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, and Republicans didn’t reinstate it under new Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah.In a statement Wednesday, Youngkin called the vote a “win” for children across Virginia and that he’s proud to deliver on his promise to push “an agenda that empowers parents on the upbringing, education, and care of their own children.”

“This vote also shows that school boards who are attacking their own students are stunningly detached from reality,” Youngkin said. “It’s time to put kids first and get back to normal.”

With simple majority votes in each chamber, masks could be optional for all students across the state as soon as Feb. 21.

Also Wednesday, the Senate voted on a bipartisan basis to pass Republican-sponsored legislation directing the Department of Education to develop guidelines for school boards to notify parents when their children are assigned to read books with sexually explicit material.

Democrats who argued against the measure said it would lead to censorship. Republicans said it was a commonsense way to give parents a say in their kids’ education. It passed 20-18.

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