Bill to ban mask mandates in Idaho advances

A bill that would prohibit local governments, school districts and state officials from requiring masks in Idaho is headed to the House floor for a vote.

Rep. Karey Hanks, R-St. Anthony, is sponsoring House Bill 514. If the bill becomes law, cities, counties, health districts and local school boards would be prohibited from requiring masks or face coverings. The bill would also prevent the state of any officer of the state from requiring masks.

The bill also makes it so that any violation of the prohibition on mask mandates would result in terminating any emergency order or public health order in place.

“Alright, I like that,” Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, told Hanks when he learned about how violating the bill would work.

The state of Idaho has never had a mask or face covering requirement, although local school districts and communities have required masks.

“This is a mask mandate prohibition, it doesn’t mean that you can’t wear a mask if you choose to,” Hanks told legislators during the bill’s public hearing Wednesday.

During the bill’s hearing, Stephanie Mickelsen, a member of the College of Eastern Idaho’s board of trustees, asked legislators not to advance the bill.

“It’s really important that when we look at this bill that you are trying to pass that government closest to the people is best,” Mickelson said. “And the state of Idaho continually complains about the federal government and yet here the state is trying to make rules that would then prohibit people on the local level from doing what they feel is best for their people.”

Mickelsen also pointed out the bill isn’t limited to COVID-19, it prevents mask mandates intended to prevent or slow the spread of any contagious or infectious disease.

“And if we pass a law right now that says we prevent that, what happens if we have something that is even more significant than COVID in the future?” Mickelsen asked legislators. “You have this bill that says you can’t do that.”

Hanks said Idahoans are ready to move on from masks and accept the consequences.

“We’re at the point in Idaho where we are more than ready to deal with whatever risks there are,” Hanks said during Wednesday’s hearing.

Two of the three people who testified during the committee hearing supported the bill banning mask mandates, saying it was a matter of freedom and liberty.

“When we allow, at whatever level, government to step in and dictate what people do with their own health I think we are really overstepping our boundaries as a government agency,” said Lynn Laird, a Meridian psychologist who regularly speaks out at the Statehouse against mask and vaccine rules.

Laird told legislators she has heard but has not dug into claims that even being around people wearing masks can be harmful to younger children, an assertion that is untrue. She did not provide any examples or evidence.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare say people who wear a mask in indoor public places are less likely to test positive for COVID-19, citing a study of participants from California in December 2021.