Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced a hollow victory Tuesday, ending his state’s mask mandate and statewide COVID-related anti-business orders that have prevented businesses from fully opening, including restaurant capacity restrictions. But Abbott has not managed to get Republicans in the state legislature to advance a bill to block local officials from imposing mask mandates. Also, corporations and private businesses can still maintain their own mask mandates, which obviously is a major driver of the masking of humanity. Thus, mask tyranny will continue in Texas.
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner complained that “this decision needs to be criticized and condemn in every part of the state” and pontificated, “We’re saying, ‘keep your masks on.’”
Abbott is allowing counties to enforce their own rules — so long as businesses can be 50 percent operable at minimum. However, Abbott made clear that county judges cannot punish mask refusers at this time. As of July 2020, 44 Texas counties had active mask orders but not all were mandates.
Here is the Texas Independent School District announcing the continuation of their mask mandate, echoing similar statements from other school districts in the Lone Star State:
Here is a relevant portion of House Bill HB 2097 introduced by Republican state Rep. Matt Schaeffer: “A local official may not issue an executive order or proclamation that requires a person to wear a mask or personal protective equipment unless expressly provided by statute.”
HB 2097 was filed in the House but it needs to get pushed through the legislature and signed into law by Abbott and that is still an uphill climb.
For Face Freedom advocates, there is still a LONG way to go.
