As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Arizona, according to data compiled by state health officials, state lawmakers have enacted two new laws aimed at restricting responses to the malicious and malingering coronavirus.

These two new laws come on the heels of several other COVID-related restrictions that were adopted in the state earlier this year. 

The first piece of new legislation, House Bill 2086, will bar the Arizona Department of Health Services from adding a COVID-19 vaccine to the list of inoculations required for school attendance in Arizona.

Currently, any child attending school, preschool or child care in Arizona is required by law at various ages and grades to be immunized or have proof of immunity against a multitude of diseases, including measles, mumps, chickenpox and meningitis.

The vaccine against COVID-19 is not on the immunization list, and under the new legislation, cannot ever be added.

The second new law, House Bill 2453, will prohibit any state or local government, including the judiciary, from imposing any requirement to wear a mask or face covering on their premises, except where longstanding workplace safety and infection control measures unrelated to COVID-19 may be required.

This bill was signed by the governor, despite the fact that he previously supported mask-wearing in public buildings to control the spread of COVID-19, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mask-wearing in public spaces to limit the spread of the disease.

Neither bill received any Democratic support in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Gov. Ducey, a Republican, signed both bills in May.

The new COVID laws will take effect 91 days after the current legislative session ends, expected to be at the end of June.

Editor’s note: Donald A. Loose is an Arizona attorney, and the author of “Arizona Laws 101: A Handbook for Non-Lawyers, and Estate Planning in Arizona: What You Need to Know.”