Arkansas lawmakers on Thursday voted down two bills that would have allowed local school boards to mandate masks in certain instances, during a special session initiated by Gov. Asa Hutchinson for that purpose.
Hutchinson had called on lawmakers to allow public schools to implement masking protocols for educational facilities where children under 12 are present during the coronavirus pandemic, and to affirm his decision to end supplemental federal unemployment programs. Act 1002 of 2021, which the governor signed, prohibits state and local entities from requiring face coverings.
Both bills had sparked hours of questions and testimony in the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor this week, though lawmakers had acknowledged they were unlikely to pass. Legislative leaders said they expect the session to end after both chambers convene at 8:30 a.m. to approve bills giving the state Division of Workforce Services authority to halt federally funded unemployment programs, and without taking action on masking.
Committee members heard House Bill 1004 by House Minority Leader Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock, which would have allowed mask mandates meeting the standards laid out in the governor's call to be enacted, as well as House Bill 1003 by Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, a narrower bill that sought to permit school boards to vote to approve face covering requirements lasting up to 60 days if there is a 14-day coronavirus infection rate of at least 50 new known infections per 10,000 district residents.
McCullough said she wanted to "simply give local school districts the opportunity to determine what's best for their children and their districts."
"Masks are one of the best tools to prevent the spread of COVID and its variants," she said. "The delta variant is growing like wildfire and the new school year's about to start...If we can use everything we know that's evidence-based to keep kids safe, that seems to be the best way to go forward to keep our schools open."
Following HB1004's failure, Mayberry attempted to amend HB1003 based on feedback from when she first presented it to the committee on Tuesday, adjusting the 60-day limit to 21 days and lowering the 14-day infection rate threshold that would enable school board to vote on a mask mandate to 30 new known infections per 10,000 district residents. Tuesday's committee meeting lasted about three hours.
In divided voice votes, the committee declined to adopt the changes to the bill, then rejected the unamended bill without discussion.
At a news conference Thursday evening, House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, said he didn't "see really any other options at this point as far as any other piece of legislation" to address mask requirements in public schools and that he was working toward adjourning the special session this morning. Shepherd had previously expressed doubt that there was sufficient support in the House to approve Hutchinson's proposal.
"We're out of time," he said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, told reporters Thursday that there was not a consensus in the Senate to grant school boards the authority to decide whether to require students who are younger than 12 to wear masks.
Hutchinson, a term-limited Republican, said he was disappointed by the committee's actions and referenced the situation at an east Arkansas school district that began classes July 26 and had 839 students and staff members in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure as of Thursday according to the superintendent.
"It is conservative, reasonable and compassionate to allow local school districts to protect those students who are under 12 and not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The cases and quarantines 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 flexibility to protect those that are at risk," the governor said in a statement Thursday evening.
Confrontation
Two Arkansas senators had a heated exchange Thursday morning during an unofficial meeting in the Old Supreme Court room in the state Capitol as tensions continued to rise over a state law banning most government entities from mandating use of masks.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, and Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, had a loud war of words during an unofficial meeting where several lawmakers decided to stay behind after a Senate Education Committee meeting was adjourned to listen to the public speak about the masks in schools issue.
Garner told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the cause of the argument was the unofficial meeting not being live streamed.
"Afterwards I heard that Senator (Missy) Irvin had left and Senator Elliott was holding a secret meeting out of the public view of the live stream," he said. "I decided that was inappropriate for such a controversial and critical issue so I came up here to voice my displeasure in a fashion that everyone would know my position on it."
Elliott said Gardner had a "meltdown" and just wanted to cause chaos.
"There was absolutely nothing being done out of the ordinary," she said. "I don't know what his thought process was for doing that. He is a bully and he chose to handle that in his fashion. I will not be bullied into stopping a meeting by any senator."
At the outset of the Senate Education Committee on Thursday morning, committee chairwoman Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, cited the Senate's rules that "no bill or resolution introduced and referred to a committee may be considered until at least one intervening day occurred between the day of referral and the day the committee meets to conduct their business."
In a case of an emergency, a two-thirds vote of the committee is required to bring up bills for consideration at any time, she said.
None of the committee members made a motion to suspend the rule to allow the committee to consider any particular bill.
Around 40 to 50 people had gathered in the Old Supreme Court building to listen or speak at the meeting.
Elliott said as vice-chair of the committee she decided after the meeting to allow people who wanted to speak about the item on the agenda a chance to have their voice heard.
"People wanted to be heard and I took the initiative," she said. "Some people might not be able to come back tomorrow and some people might have driven a long way to speak about this issue."
Elliott said about five of the committee members stayed behind to listen to the public speak. She said in the midst of the comments Garner entered the room and interrupted the proceedings.
"Once I realized they were having this meeting that was controlled by the Democrats that was out of the public eye done in a dark fashion I decided it was time to come and address it directly," he said. "It caused me to come up here and to publicly admonish Senator Elliott and the Democrats for trying to run this shady, secret meeting to get their point of view across to sympathetic media."
A video that made the rounds on social media showed Garner and Elliott loudly speaking to each other before he is seen leaving the room.
Elliott said after Garner left the meeting continued.
Buckshot
Camden Police Officer L.C. "Buckshot" Smith was also recognized during Thursday's session.
House Resolution 1001, commending Smith, which was co-sponsored by El Dorado Republicans Matthew Shepherd and Sonia Barker, was adopted. Buckshot is 92 years old and has served in the CPD for more than 45 years.
