In the early morning hours of Thursday, Governor Kim Reynolds (R) signed into law House File 847, which eliminates school district’s, county and city governments ability to issue mask mandates more stringent than those implemented at the state level. Iowa District 39 Senator Kevin Kinney (D), voted against the bill and discussed his beliefs. “The state of Iowa is a big state. It’s hard to have an umbrella that covers the whole state. You can have areas in the state that may be having an outbreak or a higher rate of disease. I think local governments are better prepared to mandate or have control within their areas.”

The bill passed on a strict party line vote of 53-35 in the House and 29-17 in the Senate. This legislation went into effect immediately.