Maine House speaker stands ground on COVID mask mandate
A policy requiring that those entering the State House wear facial coverings to protect against the spread of COVID-19 remains, even with mask mandates lifted in other places.
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AUGUSTA An ongoing dispute between a group of conservative legislators and Democratic leaders in the Maine Legislature over whether lawmakers should be required to wear facial coverings when they return to the State House next week was no closer to resolution following a meeting of the Legislative Council on Thursday.
The council, which includes the leaders of both the minority and majority caucuses in the House and the Senate and the speaker of the House and Senate president – in all, six Democrats and four Republicans – took no additional action on a policy they set last week leaving in place a mask mandate for lawmakers and the public entering the State House or conducting business there in public areas, including the House and Senate c
Maine House Speaker Replaces Republicans on Committees Over Mask Rule Violation
The speaker of the Maine House of Representatives this week stripped seven conservatives of their committee assignments, replacing them with Democrats.
House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat, made the move after the group, comprised of six GOP lawmakers and a Libertarian, entered the state Capitol without masks.
Video footage posted by one of the legislators, state Rep. Laurel Libby, showed law enforcement stopping the group just inside the entrance.
“In order to be in legislative space, your leadership said that you need to wear a mask. So we are asking you to wear a mask beyond this point,” one officer said.
The Portland Press Herald and the Associated Press reported seven legislators tried to enter the State House without COVID face coverings, defying house rules.
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Maine’s lifting its mask mandate for nearly everyone in the state today, regardless of someone’s immunization status.
gov. Janet Mills issued guidance last week that said people who are not fully vaccinated should continue to wear face coverings in indoor public settings.
The order does not apply to children 5 and older in school or day care.
Also today, the state will lift indoor and outdoor capacity limits, and venues will no longer be required to adhere to physical distancing requirements.
Businesses will still have the right to require masks.
Disagreements over masks could raise tensions in Augusta as the Maine legislature prepares to return to the State House for the first time since March of 2020.