Beshear rebukes Kentucky legislature for preventing him from issuing a mask mandate
A frustrated Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear chided the Republican-led state legislature Friday for getting rid of the state’s mask mandate for public schools and banning any type of statewide mask mandate.
The legislature’s decision on the mask issues was “wrong” and puts him in a position of trying to fight the alarming spread of the coronavirus pandemic “with one hand tied behind my back,” said the Democratic governor.
If he had the authority, Beshear said, he would immediately implement a masking mandate for indoor settings and hopes more businesses would impose mask mandates. He also said he encourages school districts to “do the right thing” and require universal masking in schools. Local school officials will have the option of what to do about students wearing masks.
He said masking in schools is “the best way to keep our children learning in the class room” and is supported by the federal Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics, local health departments, the education community and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, and House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, did not immediately respond to Beshear’s comments.
Lawmakers ended a three-day special legislative session late Thursday night, overriding Beshear’s vetoes of two bills that prevent him from ordering any type of mask mandate.
Beshear called the special session after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that his emergency orders must have legislative approval if they extend beyond 30 days.
The governor used football analogies to describe the situation, saying for 18 months he has been able “to quarterback Kentucky through this pandemic. I have made the tough calls, sometimes the unpopular calls and I have taken the hits that go along with them.
“But I have owned every single decision I had to make. We have been successful, successful in fighting back three different waves of this virus because we followed the science and we had the courage to make the tough decisions.”
But, “the legislature wanted that ball. They went to the Supreme Court and said the governor should not be making the calls, they should be making the calls.”
Beshear said the legislature “now owns this pandemic moving forward.”
The governor said he did get some things from the legislature that were needed. He mentioned extension of his state of emergency, additional appropriations for testing and other mitigation efforts, and a bill that sweetens incentives for investment projects in the state worth more than $2 billion.
But the legislature “punted on first down” on the mask issues by pushing the decision to others, he said, noting that more than 8,000 Kentuckians have died from the virus, including a 15-year-old in Shelby County and a 19-year-old from Daviess County, while hospitals are at “a breaking point” with only 93 intensive care unit beds open in the state.
Vaccines and masks work, Beshear said, criticizing people who had spread misinformation “over the last several days” about them.
He mentioned no lawmaker by name but said one state senator tried to blame him for hospital staffing shortages, claiming that when Beshear had to stop elective hospital procedures some staffers moved to other states.
“Folks, every state shut down elective procedures and it wasn’t me making the order. It was President Donald Trump,” said Beshear.
Beshear said he will keep on fighting COVID with the tools he has. He noted that he has deployed more than 400 Guard members to assist with non-technical help in 25 Kentucky hospitals, has requested five federal emergency strike teams for assistance and increased monoclonal antibody treatments across the state from 204 per week to 3,642 in two months.
“Our path ahead is going to be more difficult but we will continue to rise to the challenge to do the very best we can and call on others to make good decisions,” said Beshear.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 2:10 PM.
