After weeks of legal challenges and school board hand-wringing, GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a newly passed bill into Virginia law, which codifies his executive order to make face masks in public schools optional for kids and parents.
"Children have not only suffered learning loss, they have suffered relationship loss," Youngkin said at his bill-signing Wednesday. "Now is our chance to give all parents the rights to make decisions we know they have, to put it into law.
"Today, we are establishing and restoring power back to parents. But we are also reestablishing our expectations that we will get back to normal, and this is the path."
The Virginia House passed Senate Bill 739 on party lines 52-48, and Youngkin wasted no time signing it into law.
Virginia counties and school boards had been challenging Youngkin's executive order making masks in public schools optional for kids and parents, arguing the existing state law had language the schools should follow the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on masking.
Youngkin issued the masks-optional executive order his first day in office and he and GOP Attorney General Jason Miyares had faced legal objections since.
The Senate quickly moved to codify law as masks as optional in school and the House finalized the passage of the bill Wednesday.
Youngkin made choice a priority in his campaign for governor against former Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who campaigned to keep the authority over kids in school with the school boards. Youngkin defeated McAuliffe in the gubernatorial election and was sworn into office in January.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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