{"id":1048784,"date":"2021-11-23T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T20:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1048784"},"modified":"2021-11-23T15:43:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T20:43:54","slug":"vermont-lawmakers-pass-measure-allowing-town-to-town-mask-mandates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/vermont-lawmakers-pass-measure-allowing-town-to-town-mask-mandates\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermont Lawmakers Pass Measure Allowing Town to Town Mask Mandates"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvermont-lawmakers-pass-measure-allowing-town-to-town-mask-mandates%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1048784&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">The Vermont State Legislature, at the direction of&nbsp;Republican Gov. Phil Scott, passed a measure this week allowing local governments to impose their own mask requirements, nearly two years after the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation, which passed&nbsp;17-10 in the Senate and&nbsp;90-41 in the House, essentially allows municipalities to temporarily enact their own mask requirements in the face of a virus surge. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2021\/11\/22\/vermont-lawmakers-approve-scotts-town-by-town-mask-mandate-bill\/\">VT Digger<\/a>, \u201cit&nbsp;received nearly unanimous Republican opposition and lost some support on the left as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Scott pushed lawmakers to go in this direction, as he did not want to implement a statewide mask mandate, despite the push from Democrat lawmakers. In a November 15 letter to members of the legislature, the governor&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/governor.vermont.gov\/sites\/scott\/files\/documents\/Special%20Session%20Letter%2011-15-21.pdf\">outlined<\/a> the legislation he would support:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div class=\"page\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\" readability=\"18.5\">\n<blockquote readability=\"30\">\n<p>First, the legislation must be limited to facial covering requirements indoors within a municipality\u2019s jurisdiction (except schools, which shall remain governed by the policies set forth by the local school board) for the specific, and exclusive, purpose of addressing COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the legislation must allow each municipality to enact, by action of the municipality\u2019s governing body, a mask mandate beginning Monday, November 29, 2021, or upon passage, whichever is earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Third, the legislation and authority to impose a local mask mandate shall sunset on April 30, 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth, the statute passed in special session must require the governing body of the municipality to reevaluate and vote to extend or rescind the policy on a month-to-month basis.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_18874946\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"39\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18874946\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Phil-Scott-vermont-mask-AP.jpg\" alt width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vermont Gov. Phil Scott stands on the steps of the Vermont Statehouse during a ceremony where he took the Oath of Office on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021 Montpelier, Vt. Scott, a Republican, is beginning his third two-year term. (AP Photo\/Wilson Ring)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe want to make sure we are keeping local people safe, businesses safe and if towns feel like one way to do that is through masking, they should be able to make that decision themselves,\u201d said Sen. President Pro Tem Becca Balint (D).<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">However, others, such as Republican Sen. Randy Brock, believe the measure will \u201cset back the rate of compliance,\u201d citing \u201cdivision\u201d and \u201cdivisiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcax.com\/2021\/11\/22\/vermont-lawmakers-return-monday-special-session\/\">WCAX<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"12\">\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Outside, a group of protesters pushed back on the policy. They say mandates over masks or vaccines are government overreach and decision-makers aren\u2019t listening to their concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThere are voices out here with many professionals that are not being listened to. They are not welcomed to the debate, they are being shut out,\u201d said Matthew Sellers of East Montpelier.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to the <em>New York Times\u2019<\/em> coronavirus data tracker, Vermont is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/us\/covid-cases.html\">reporting<\/a> a daily average of 369 cases, or 59 per 100,000\u2014 far higher than the six per capita reported by Florida, which continues to have the lowest case rate per capita in the nation. Vermont\u2019s figures represent a 17 percent rise in cases over the last 14 days, yet it has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country at 73 percent.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>An October 5 guidance from the Vermont Department of Health <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/pdf\/COVID-19-VDH-mask-guidance.pdf\">urged<\/a> individuals to wear a mask in public indoor settings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Vermont State Legislature, at the direction of\u00a0Republican Gov. Phil Scott, passed a measure this week allowing local governments to impose their own mask requirements, nearly two years after the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1048784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1048784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1048784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1048784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1048784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}