North Dakota Senate OKs bill to prohibit state from issuing mask mandates

N.D. – North Dakota’s Republican-led Senate has endorsed a measure that would prohibit the state mandating face coverings.

Senators approved the bill Wednesday, but amended it to give local governments, schools and employers the option of requiring masks.

The measure now goes back to the House for review of the Senate amendment.

Bill sponsor GOP Rep. Jeff Hoverson and others have argued there was no proof that masks work to slow the spread of the coronavirus and they questioned the government’s role in mandating them.