PHOENIX — Governor Doug Ducey signed Rep. Joseph Chaplik’s bill, HB 2770, which empowers businesses in Arizona to decide whether or not to enforce on its premises a mask mandate that is imposed by politicians from the state, county, city/town or other jurisdiction in Arizona.
Chaplik says he proposed the measure because “business owners should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to require their customers to wear masks.”
“Recent developments show that without a protection in law, businesses and their customers are subject to the decisions of local rogue politicians who want to control you indefinitely,” said Chaplik. “This bill did not receive any Democrat votes throughout the entire process.”
The Free Enterprise club called Chaplik’s bill a “a commonsense solution” because it “allows people to exercise their freedom while removing the burden from businesses to play mask police.”
RELATED ARTICLE: Governor Ducey Should Follow The Science By Signing The “Mask Freedom” Bill
The governor issued an executive order last month banning local mask mandates, however several cities run by Democrats have refused to rescind their mask mandates. The governor never issued a mandatory state-wide mask mandate, but several democrat-controlled cities did. Those cities then failed to enforce their mandates, leaving the responsibility to local businesses. The governor said in the bill’s transmittal letter to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs that the cities’ failure caused “concern and heartache for many businesses.”
The governor called Chaplik’s bill “well-intentioned,” in his letter of transmittal, but “due to an error in drafting, may have unintended consequences.”
“Some rational mass requirements are not related to the spread of COVID-19 may not be enforceable,” explained the governor. “The state needs to be able to enforce long-standing workplace safety and infection control standards unrelated to COVID-19. I am grateful to the sponsor, Rep. Joseph Chaplik, for agreeing to fix this technical oversight in a future bill this session. With his commitment to fix this oversight, I am signing this bill, ensuring that our small businesses will no longer be required to enforce mandates imposed on them by the cities who are choosing not to force it themselves.”
Fact check: True. The data is stunning: 97% mask compliance in San Francisco, NY, DC, 96% in Miami and Philly, 95% in Chicago.
CLOTH AND SURGICAL MASKS DO NOT WORK. PERIOD.https://t.co/Upc55h9T91
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) December 7, 2020
