By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
State lawmakers are not conceding they acted illegally in the way they approved a ban on mask mandates at schools earlier this year as part of the budget.
But they are telling the Arizona Supreme Court that if they did break the law, the justices should let them get away with it one more time and let the state block those mask requirements.
Well, actually, several more times.
They also want to be able to enforce not just the ban on schools requiring face coverings of faculty and students but also a grab-bag of other items stuffed into what lawmakers call “budget reconciliation bills.” These include whether universities can mandate vaccines, strip Secretary of State Katie Hobbs of some of her powers, create a committee to study the election audit, and even tell schools how they can — and cannot — teach about race, gender and ethnicity.