A Democratic senator in Ohio was walking out of a hearing last week when he saw dozens of viewers in the room were maskless and sat close together.
“I saw danger,” said Senator Cecil Thomas, who added that he was concerned about the risk of infection, also because his daughter had a severely weakened immune system.
Mr. Thomas returned to his office, where he watched the rest of the hearing but was unable to attend.
Almost a year after the coronavirus crisis began, in which there is no national standard for legislation during a pandemic, lawmakers in the country’s state capitals are grappling with holding a new session season. A partisan pattern has emerged, but it remains a patchwork of changing, inconsistent rules about where to meet, how the public can participate, and what to do with masks.
At least 28 states, according to a New York Times poll of lawmakers in each state, require masks on the floors of both chambers of law. 17 of the 28 states are controlled by Democrats. Legislation in at least 18 states, including 15 Republican-controlled ones, doesn’t require masks on the floor in at least one chamber. In the three state legislatures that split party control, one mask is required and two are not.
In Minnesota, masks are required in the Democratic house, but the Senate Republican majority blocked a proposal to require masks in the upper chamber. Senators are allowed to attend meetings remotely. “Part of that is simply respecting those who take a different point of view,” said Senator Paul Gazelka, the Republican leader.
Similar partisan differences have emerged across the country. In Ohio, Republican lawmakers have denied requests from Democrats to demand masks in the statehouse and allow remote participation. When Mr. Thomas colleagues heard public comments on a bill to limit the governor’s emergency powers that could allow lawmakers to veto the governor’s health instructions, Mr. Thomas in his office was listening and unable to ask questions.
Other Republican-led legislatures like Missouri have also stopped wearing masks. The Arizona House of Representatives held two swearing-in ceremonies earlier this year: one for lawmakers who would wear masks and one for those who would not. Republican leaders in South Dakota, which has the second highest rate of known coronavirus cases in the country, have called for masks in the Senate but only encouraged them in the House of Representatives. The legislators in both chambers may participate and vote remotely.
With no shortage of urgent problems lawmakers face – budget constraints, economic relief, and restructuring to name a few – many state government rituals have been disrupted by the pandemic.
At least 26 governors, both Democrats and Republicans, have put their annual state of the state addresses online or in places that allow greater distancing than the legislative houses. Members of the public in 22 states have been banned from Capitol buildings. Legislation in 27 states has allowed lawmakers to attend meetings and cast their votes from home or other locations in Capitol buildings.
And lawmakers from both parties have come together under conditions unimaginable a year ago.
In Maryland, a maze of plexiglass barriers separated masked Senate lawmakers when they returned to work last month. New Hampshire legislature held its organizational meetings outdoors. In Illinois, the House of Representatives did business in a convention center, not the Capitol. And in California, the gathering moved its opening ceremony to the Golden 1 Center, the home arena of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings
