Virginia Senate approves amendment that may spell end to school mask mandates
Source: WRIC- Local VA ABC affiliate
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — With bipartisan support, the Virginia Senate approved an amendment to a bill giving parents the ability to choose whether their children wear masks in schools without giving an excuse and regardless of rules adopted by local school boards.
Democratic state Sen. Chap Petersen (Fairfax City) made a floor amendment on the Senate floor Tuesday to a bill from Republican state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant that would require school boards to permanently offer in-person instruction.
The language in Sen. Petersen’s floor amendment states any parent with a child enrolled in a public school or any school-based early childhood care program could elect to send their child to the classroom without a mask “notwithstanding any other provision of law or any regulation, rule, or policy implemented by a school board, school division, school official, or other state or local authority.”
Petersen’s amendment to the bill was adopted on a 29-9 vote, a bipartisan outcome that could give Gov. Glenn Youngkin a legislative solution to legal challenges that have temporarily blocked his mask-optional executive order in schools.
Read more: https://www.wric.com/news/politics/capitol-connection/virginia-senate-approves-amendment-that-may-spell-end-to-school-mask-mandates/
Sent to me from a friend who lives in Virginia. He was surprised it passed with that number of Dem crossover votes. He expected it to only pass with a single Dem vote, Peterson's. I guess there is a chance that the Senate will vote the entire bill down, but its probably not likely.
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