While most Hoosiers could’ve predicted that a mask mandate was coming, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s initial announcement caught many citizens — including law enforcement officers and politicians — off guard last week.
During his weekly Wednesday press conference, on July 22, Holcomb said that the current COVID-19 data from the Indiana State Department of Health suggested the state was heading in the wrong direction. The number of positive cases and hospitalizations were rising at an alarming rate, and additional measures needed to be taken.
Holcomb and the ISDH had advocated for Hoosiers to wear masks for weeks — going as far as creating a public relations campaign called "Mask Up Hoosiers" — but the efforts weren’t enough to get citizens to act.
Some Hoosiers felt upset by Holcomb’s emergency executive order, even though it’s allowed under Indiana Code 10-14-3-2, but what really fired the public up wasn’t the wearing of masks. It was the punishment that came along with not wearing one.
Holcomb stated that while there wouldn’t be "mask police," violation of the order would be considered a Class B misdemeanor, which could result in up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
Soon after the press conference ended, sheriff’s departments from various counties issued statements saying they wouldn’t enforce the mandate…which hadn’t even been released yet.
At the same time, five Republican state senators requested an opinion from Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill. In a non-binding opinion issued by Hill, he said that state law doesn’t give the governor specific authority to require face coverings or to create penalties for failing to wear a mask.
“The wisdom of wearing masks — or of laws requiring such measures — is not the issue here. Rather, the issue is whether we are following the proper and constitutional processes for enacting laws and whether we are respecting the distinct roles of each branch of state government,” Hill said in a statement.
Holcomb took an extra day to review the mandate, and made some changes. He decided to drop fines for violators and wrote that local health departments are responsible for enforcing complaints by educating the public about the importance of wearing face coverings.
While Holcomb’s putting a lot of pressure on local health departments, he’s right to not ask police to enforce his order and impose fines. Law enforcement has enough to worry about each day on the job than responding to mask complaints.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office and the Columbus Police Department said Friday they were not planning on having officers or deputies patrolling looking for people not wearing masks.
Further legal clarity is needed before the governor should be able to dictate the punishment for not wearing a mask in public. Signing a mandate to ask Hoosiers to wear masks isn’t infringing on rights, but imposing fines could prove a slippery slope despite the uncertain times.
The state has largely allowed local governments to impose their own rules during the pandemic, and this mandate is no different. The mask mandate is set to expire on Aug. 26, and could do so if everyone does their part in fighting the virus.
