Senate panel kills bill to prohibit 'discrimination' against non-mask wearing Virginians

RICHMOND — In what likely is a barometer of legislative reaction to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's order to rescind mask mandates in schools, a Virginia Senate committee killed a bill that prevented discrimination in public and private establishments against people choosing not to wear masks as protection against COVID-19.

The 8-6 vote Wednesday afternoon was strictly along party lines. The eight Democrats on the Senate General Laws & Technology Committee voted to kill the bill, while six of the seven Republicans supported it. State Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico County, did not vote.

State Sen. Amanda Chase's legislation reflected part of the Youngkin executive order that would remove mask mandates from public and private schools. While Chase acknowledged the order, she said the bill was more about "the freedom to breathe" among everyone, not just parents.

"This is not an argument of whether we should wear a mask or not or whether masks are effective or not," Chase, R-Chesterfield County, said. "This is giving individuals the ability to exercise that freedom."

Chase, who has claimed she has an undisclosed medical condition that prevents her from wearing masks, said the mask requirement publicly disrespects people who have conditions such as hers. That group, she added, also includes children and people with post-traumatic stress disorder.

As for parents' decisions about their children wearing masks in school, Chase said her bill gave people "who see it as an issue for their child the ability to make the choice not to wear the mask."

"It's time to save face. It's time to give people the freedom to breathe and give them the freedom of choice," Chase said.

Read the governor's Executive Order 2 on mask mandates in schools.

The panel's Democrats, however, were not buying that argument.

"Under this bill if it was to pass, would you have the right to come into my private establishment maybe with very few workers who are available and need to stay healthy ... and possibly sneeze on me without a mask when you're positive for COVID?" asked Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria.

Several citizens spoke both in favor of and against the bill. One person said he and his wife have been asked to leave some places because his wife is hearing-impaired and relies on lip-reading in part to communicate. Others said they had been disgraced by mask-wearers for not wearing one.

Opponents said they wanted their kids to continue wearing the masks to school as a layer of protection against the COVID-19 virus.

Chase had another COVID-related bill defeated in the committee along the same party vote. That bill would have discontinued "vaccine passports" having to be shown to allow people into public places. Arguments for and against that measure were along the same line as the mask bill.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is daily news coach for USA TODAY's Southeast Region-Unified Central, which includes Virginia, West Virginia and central North Carolina. He is based in Petersburg, Virginia. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Virginia senators kill bill blocking discrimination against no-maskers