Paxton targets local governments’ orders
Attorney general says officials going too far in restrictions; critics see move as political
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio and Bexar County can no longer require people to stay at home, wear masks or take several other steps to slow the spread of COVID-19, Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday — the latest move in the state’s push to neuter local governments’ ability to implement their own emergency restrictions.
“We trust you will act quickly to correct these mistakes to avoid further confusion and litigation challenging these unconstitutional and unlawful restrictions,” Paxton, a Republican, threatened in a letter to Mayor Ron Nirenberg and County Judge Nelson Wolff.
But Nirenberg, an independent, and Wolff, a Democrat, largely wrote off Paxton’s letter as a political stunt with little if any substance.
“On the merits, we’re not concerned,” Nirenberg said. “But it doesn’t stop the AG from seeking a cheap political headline.”
Both the city and county have strained to make sure their orders and Gov. Greg Abbott’s are aligned, officials said Tuesday, and there are no plans to change their orders just because Paxton fired off a letter that has no legal authority on its own.
“The orders are already compliant with the governor’s orders,” Nirenberg said. “They always have been.”
The stay-at-home requirements are pretty much moot now that many businesses are allowed to reopen, Wolff admitted.
But lifting restrictions on social gatherings and nixing requirements that people wear masks would prove disastrous for containing the disease, Wolff said. Estimates show the local restrictions likely saved thousands of lives, officials noted.
“His interpretation is, according to his letter, that anybody can do anything they want to do,” Wolff said. “With respect to masks and with respect to social distancing, that’s a big mistake. We don’t think that’s what the governor wants us to do.”
Nirenberg and Wolff have said repeatedly that the reason San Antonio hasn’t been hit harder by the deadly virus is because its residents have honored their stay-at-home orders and the requirements to
wear masks in public in most circumstances and to maintain a 6foot social distance from others.
Abbott in recent weeks has limited the ability of cities and counties to set their own restrictions to combat the spread of the virus — a marked reversal from the onset of the crisis when the Republican left local officials to enact stay-at-home orders and close businesses.
Paxton also sent letters to Austin and Dallas on Tuesday — claiming, as he did in the letter to San Antonio, that many restrictions in those cities go beyond what’s allowed under Abbott’s own executive order.
San Antonio and Bexar County
can no longer require people to stay at home, close businesses that aren’t essential or reopened or limit social gatherings, Paxton wrote.
That’s not City Attorney Andy Segovia’s interpretation of Abbott’s order, which mandates that residents keep social gatherings and contact with people outside of their own household to a minimum — unless it’s to provide essential or reopened services.
“That’s what our order does,” Segovia said.
The city and county orders require essential and reopened businesses to provide face coverings and masks to their employees. That’s a no-no, Paxton said.
Under orders signed by Nirenberg and Wolff, the city and county require residents to wear masks
when they’re in public situations where keeping social distance of 6 feet may not always be possible. But neither the city or county can enforce that requirement through fines or citations.
Nonetheless, that requirement is out of step with Abbott’s order, which only recommends that residents wear masks, Paxton said. Weeks ago, Abbott stripped local governments’ ability to fine people for not wearing masks in public.
“Although your orders ‘require’ individuals to wear masks when they leave their home, they are free to choose whether to wear one or not,” Paxton wrote.
The county can’t put people in jail for violating the order, Paxton said. But Abbott prohibited cities and counties from doing so last week, and neither the city nor the county ever put anyone in jail for violating the orders. Although, Wolff noted, Abbott’s own order allowed such a punishment until Thursday.
Nonetheless, the moves by Abbott and Paxton are a far cry from the outset of the crisis when Abbott allowed local officials to “take the heat” for enacting restrictions on business and movement to try to stop the virus, Wolff said.
Nirenberg and Wolff sent their own letter to Paxton in response. But it’s unclear if the city or county will take any action beyond that.
“We’re not out to pick any fights,” Segovia said.
Wolff quickly added, “He picked the fight, not us.”