The Nevada State Assembly voted to strip one of its Republican members of her voting rights for violating mask-wearing rules on Thursday.
At issue is whether the assemblywoman, Annie Black, has been vaccinated as the Democratic-led governing body implemented a rule on Wednesday to follow the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under the new policy, people can generally be in the legislative building without a facial covering if vaccinated, but Black has refused to say whether she’s been vaccinated, noting in a newsletter that it is her own business to know.
The Legislature voted along party lines, 26-16, to censure Black as standing rules dictate a member who is found to be in violation “shall not vote or speak on the floor or committee except to explain and apologize for the breach, until the member has made satisfaction to the House for the breach.”
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“We were informed that there were persons who had not confirmed they were vaccinated and would not wear masks, so they didn’t comply with our rules,” Democratic Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson said, according to the Associated Press.
However, Black told the Washington Examiner in a phone interview that the vote to strip her of her authority was conducted before anyone had asked if she had been vaccinated.
“So, most everybody was maskless at this point” because the mandate had been lifted, she said. “But as far as I know, and we’ve asked quite a few of our colleagues who we’re friends with, it was just myself, assemblywoman [Jill] Dickman, and assemblyman [John] Ellison who’d been singled out to, to be forced to wear masks.”
Black also noted that she knew of “probably half a dozen other people,” whether they be other Assembly members or staffers, who have “never been asked to show any sort of form or anything saying that they’ve been vaccinated.”
Black said she believes she was targeted because she’s been a critic of the Legislature’s approach to mask protocol during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think that they’ve probably targeted me and the other two because I have been railing against them for keeping the Legislature closed, for the entire session, to the public,” Black said. “And just that day before, I was taking a victory lap, because, after many months of harassing them about opening the building, they finally did. And I think it was basically a retaliatory kind of move.”
Dickman was escorted off of the Assembly floor after she was called out for not wearing a mask or admitting her vaccinated status.
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Earlier this week, Black violated the rules by taking off her mask to address the Assembly, and she was warned that she could be stripped of her power if she continued to disregard rules.
“The Nevada Legislature continues to insist that everyone wear a mask here in this building unless cloistered alone in their office,” Black said on the floor after removing her mask. “It’s especially absurd to require masks here on the floor of the Assembly, where we’re not only sufficiently socially distanced but separated by plexiglass shields.”
