Assembly votes to end mask mandate, public health emergency

The state’s indoor mask mandate is set to end Friday, after the Assembly voted Thursday to terminate Gov. Tony Evers’ public health emergency declaration.

The chamber voted 52-42 to sign off on the GOP-backed resolution, with seven Republicans joining Democrats against passage.

The resolution will take effect after the presiding officers of both the Senate and Assembly sign it, which Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in a joint statement will happen Friday.

“Gov. Evers has abused his limited authority for far too long by repeatedly issuing unlawful orders beyond his 60-day emergency powers,” they said in a statement. “The Assembly and Senate voted to end the executive overreach and restore our constituents’ voice in the legislative process.”

The move comes as more than 60 organizations, including many of the state’s health groups, oppose ending the mandate. Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, called the resolution “terrifying.”

“There is nothing redemptive about this resolution,” Vining said. “You just hurt people, you threaten the economy and people really might die.”

Wisconsin Medical Society CEO Dr. Bud Chumbley called on Wisconsinites to continue to wear masks to slow the spread of the virus.

“Today’s action by the state Legislature ending the statewide mask order sends the wrong message at the wrong time,” he said in a statement. “Instead, we need all of our policy leaders to unify behind the same message: wear a mask to protect yourself and others, prevent additional deaths and restore our economy.”

The Assembly dropped its original plan to pass its own resolution, opting to take up a Senate-approved resolution approved last week.

The Assembly also amended the COVID-19 relief bill, and the Senate will meet Friday to approve the legislation since it has to be signed into law before Sunday to meet a requirement to receive enhanced federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits, according to LeMahieu.

“We expect a quick signature,” he said in a statement.

Evers’ office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Assembly Republicans amended the bill to further limit Evers’ emergency powers, aiming to allow him to declare an additional public health emergency related to the pandemic solely so the state can receive federal funding under various federal relief laws.

A recent report found that ending the current declaration could jeopardize around $50 million a month in federal money that heads to Wisconsin to bolster FoodShare benefits.

GOP lawmakers in the chamber held off on voting on ending the declaration last week until they reviewed a similar Senate amendment. Vos said that the Senate amendment didn’t go far enough in limiting the governor’s power.

“We need to make sure that no person gets the ability to rule without at least the advice and consent of the other elected officials in our state,” Vos said on the floor.

Rep. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, said the Assembly GOP amendment to the bill proves that the lawmakers’ action is about masks.

“They are perfectly happy to give the governor certain emergency powers, just not the power to require masks,” Sprietzer said. “We don’t need this amendment. We need a mask order.”

Fifty-five Assembly Republicans on Thursday sent a letter asking Evers to submit rules to the Legislature for review that would enact “reasonable masking requirements in places in Wisconsin that are susceptible to transmission of the virus to those who are especially vulnerable.” That includes healthcare facilities, long-term care facilities, schools, prisons, mass transit and state government buildings.

They also asked for rules that would allow any private or public entity to require face masking and that the Department of Health Services pay for COVID-19 tests that anyone may take, free of charge. The rules would be reviewed by the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules and be in place until a majority of “eligible Wisconsinites are voluntarily vaccinated.”

Republicans also ruled a Democratic amendment that would have required people to wear masks indoors when in public and meeting those outside of their households was not germane to the COVID-19 relief bill.