What just happened?

Not much, just more showboating

The first few words in Senate Bill 590 are apparently there for administration. They read, in allcaps, DO NOT CODIFY. TEMPORARY LANGUAGE. Let’s hope it’s never codified and the language is very temporary.

What happened Wednesday in the Arkansas Senate? Just as the governor of the state had decided that a mask “mandate” was unnecessary from his office, but that mask requirements at stores, churches, gyms, schools, post offices, groceries, banks, ball parks and everywhere else can continue under “guidance,” somebody in the Senate thought it would be a good idea to pass Senate Bill 590, just to make sure senators got some headlines. Why should the governor get all the pub?

SB590, as passed by 20 would-be epidemiologists in the state Senate, says, in part: “The requirement of wearing face coverings should be immediately ended as this requirement is no longer necessary.”

And just to put too fine a point on it, the authors of the bill say it’s an emergency. That is, the passage of the bill is an emergency, not the pandemic that is just now letting up. Or as SB590 puts it: “It is found and determined by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that due to the coronavirus 2019 (covid-19) pandemic, the Governor required the Secretary of the Department of Health to issue a public health directive requiring face coverings; that a regulation in place when it is no longer necessary is a burden on the public peace, health, and safety of the citizens of this state; that the requirement of face coverings should be removed as soon possible as it is no longer necessary; and that this act should become effective as soon as possible as the requirement of face coverings is no longer necessary to protect the health and safety of the citizens of Arkansas and is a burden on the public peace, health, and safety of the citizens of this state.”

Wow. Before this bill was filed and passed and sent to the House, who knew that face coverings were a burden, unsafe and, by the way, are no longer necessary?

Some reading this bill would argue that the wording would suggest the Senate is mandating that all mask requirements — even at stores, churches, gyms, schools, post offices, groceries, banks, ball parks and everywhere else — must end. If the governor thought the Senate was overreaching in its authority with SB590, imagine what your gym thinks.

Our news story Thursday said the governor commented on the bill in a statement Wednesday night, saying SB590 is “pointless except it would prohibit private businesses, schools and hospitals from requirements for face coverings.”

Asa Hutchinson noted, for the record: “This is not a good idea, and I would veto the bill in its current form.”

Most of the people of Arkansas would thank him for that, if it ever gets that far. Especially those who run stores, churches, gyms, schools, post offices, groceries, banks, ball parks and everywhere else.