The Texas Senate has passed a bill that would ban the institution and enforcement of COVID-related mask and vaccine mandates or business and school closures.
The measure, which passed by a vote of 20 to 10, earned the support of all Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Cesar Blanco (D-El Paso).
Senate Bill 29 was authored by Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury), with 18 other senators signing on as co-authors.
Birdwell’s bill, as passed by the Senate, stipulates, “A governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring a person to wear a face mask or other face covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Additionally, “A governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring a person to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Lastly, SB 29 would legislate that “A governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring the closure of a private business, public school, open-enrollment charter school, or private school to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
While not applying to other diseases, the bill’s language does note that the restrictions would stop mandates for “any variants of the disease.”
Birdwell celebrated the passage, writing on Twitter, “3yrs after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities across the nation continue to impose a hodgepodge of restrictive COVID-19 mandates.”
“I’m glad to have passed out of the Senate the first step in codifying @GovAbbott exec orders to stop patchwork COVID-19 mandates upon Texans,” he concluded.
Upon the passage of SB 29, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement sent to The Dallas Express, “In March 2020, when the world locked down, I went on Fox News and suggested that Texas reopen our economy as quickly and safely as possible.”
“I took an extraordinary amount of criticism but, in hindsight, everybody can now see that I was correct. Texas is thriving and our economy is the strongest in the world,” he claimed.
“Local governments across Texas and America took extreme measures to shut down businesses, schools and houses of worship,” he concluded. “SB 29 is a top priority of mine to prevent that from ever happening in the future.”
A companion bill has been filed in the House by Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) and was referred to the State Affairs Committee.
Opponents of the measure included the Texas State Teachers Association, Texas Impact, Texas American Federation of Teachers, and the Association of Texas Professional Educators.
The Dallas Express reached out to each of these groups for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.