Arkansas bill to let local school districts require masks fails in committee
Arkansas lawmakers voted Thursday to keep in place the state's ban on school mask mandates.
This means that unless lawsuits are successful, students won't have to wear masks at any public school in the state.
Two bills that would have allowed local school districts to require masks failed in committee after two days of testimony.
The House Public Health Committee heard from health experts, parents, educators, and other citizens who shared their thoughts on masks.
"Masking and social distancing works. Masking works when everyone is masked," Casey Green said.
Green is a parent whose child was hospitalized at a young age. She said she doesn't want him to end up back at the hospital from COVID-19.
"We do not want to end up back here," she said. "My family does not. Lots of other families do not."
Brock Thompson also spoke before the committee. He took his daughter out of public school last year because he felt precautions against COVID-19 impacted her learning.
"I think it's up to every person's personal freedom to wear a mask," he told the committee. "If they want to mask then they mask. If they want to wear a bubble, they wear a bubble. We are still in a free country."
Gov. Asa Hutchinson had called lawmakers into a special session in response to calls to make an exception to Arkansas' mask mandate ban. He said earlier this week he wished the ban had not become law.
Speaker Matthew Shepherd said he expects the special session to adjourn Friday morning. He said the mask mandate issue is effectively over.
Friday morning's meeting will be to discuss bills on unemployment assistance that passed both houses Thursday.
Sen. Bob Ballinger filed a resolution to extend the special session so lawmakers could consider bills on privacy rights and discrimination when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines. Shepherd doesn't expect the session to be extended.