Idaho House lawmakers will once again take up a bill to ban government agencies from implementing mask mandates.
The House State Affairs Committee gave House Bill 32 its stamp of approval Monday morning along party lines.
No public health district, government body or public school would be allowed to require the public, its employees or students to wear a mask “for the purpose of preventing or slowing the spread of a contagious or infectious disease.”
“Really, I’m just kind of asking they treat us like adults, that we can decide what we want to do with the information out there,” said Rep. Rob Beiswenger (R-Horseshoe Bend), the bill’s chief sponsor.
Employers would still be able to require workers to wear masks if its necessary for their job duties, Beiswenger said, like health care workers or those handling hazardous materials.
“People in our government did abuse our citizens back then and this bill is an attempt to kind of remedy that,” he said.
“All the gaslighting, guilt trips, verbal and emotional abuse that was endured a few years ago, I believe it’s time for Idaho to stand up for its citizens’ rights and protect them going forward.”
Nearly every person who testified agreed with Beiswenger.
That includes Yvonne St. Cyr, who pleaded guilty to trespassing in 2020 after refusing to leave a Central District Health meeting when its board was considering implementing a mask mandate.
“I am a sovereign being and no one’s going to tell me what I need to cover my mouth and breathe. My breath is sacred and I will fight with every breath I have to make sure that my freedoms are not taken away,” St. Cyr said.
President Donald Trump recently pardoned her, among roughly 1,500 others, for her role in the Jan. 6 capitol insurrection. But she said she still has four more days to serve in an Idaho jail for her trespassing conviction.
Kelly Packer, the executive director for the Association of Idaho Cities, was one of just two people to oppose the bill.
“You are blocking elected officials’ authority to make informed decisions down the road on things we may not have any idea about,” Packer said.
She said her group, which represents mayors, city council members and others could be open to simply reducing criminal penalties for violating any future public health orders.
House lawmakers have passed similar legislation multiple times over the past few years, but those efforts fail in the state senate.
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