BOISE, Idaho — Idaho House Bill 631 passed the House Chamber on Monday, in a 46 to 24 vote.
The bill would prohibit any state and political subdivision from mandating the use of a face mask or shield. Including state officials, public health districts, cities, schools, and colleges. The bill does not list health care facilities or hospitals as part of the “state” and thus would be exempt.
The author of the bill, Representative Karey Hanks raised concerns about how masks negatively impact children’s education.
“I shared information from this Brown University study and my concern is the verbal, the motor, and the cognitive performance of these growing children,” Hanks said. “I don’t believe that they are specifically saying that IQ scores of children two and younger, but they are looking at the scores of children.”
According to Representative Sally Toone the Brown Study that is under peer review, children born during the pandemic saw fallen IQ levels by 22 points.
“The data here specifically says an IQ score which stands for an intelligent quotient and is tested based on verbal and cognitive numbers and this says children born during the pandemic and the pandemic started in the spring of 2020 and how do they measure verbal fluency for a child under one year of age?” Toone said.
“I’m not an expert in these things, I just read some studies and it seems like people are always asking for studies and research and so I just wanted to share one of the things that I did find and there's a lot to be discovered and I would have to look this specific study again, but I will look at that,” Hanks said.
While a majority who stood up during the hearing for debate were against the bill, it passed with a majority in favor, whether they debated or not.
“If you are a parent of a kid that has had speech-language or hearing therapy, you know what the impact of that mask is and it is significant and it is long-lasting,” said Representative Gayann DeMordaunt.
Currently, the bill has no language regarding enforcement, but Hanks said that could be changed if needed in the future. Those opposed, are concerned about the impact this bill could have on the future of public health.
“Nobody two years ago would have predicted the impact of COVID, we don't know what's going to happen ten years from now and we don't know what new strain of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis could come out, we just don’t know and this would handcuff our state and our local jurisdictions from protecting public health in an emergency that we can’t even imagine,” said Representative Lauren Necochea.
House Bill 631 will now head to the senate committee.
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