Republican lawmakers in Kansas voted to end Gov. Laura Kelly’s short-lived statewide coronavirus mask mandate extension last week under a new law that allows legislators to repeal the governor’s executive orders, according to reports.
The governor, a Democrat, had prolonged the mandate through May 28 but the state’s Legislative Coordinating Council voted 5-2 along party lines to cancel it just hours later in a party line, the Kansas City Star reported.
The mandate has been in place off and on since last summer.
Republican Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch said the revocation of the “one-size-fits-all statewide mandate” won’t impact local orders. “The numbers don’t support a statewide mandate at this time,” he said.
Counties in Kansas could opt out of the statewide mandate and a new law that rewrote the state’s emergency powers law gives the Legislative Coordinating Council the power to repeal Kelly’s executive orders. The governor signed the bill into law last month.