LINCOLN- After Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts railed against new federal masking guidance this week, two lawmakers pointed out that rejecting the guidance could void protections against lawsuits included in a new state law.

The recently enacted law is aimed at providing businesses and other entities with some protection from COVID-19 lawsuits as long as there was “substantial compliance” with federal public health guidance, including from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Nebraska Legislature approved the measure, LB 139, on a 41-1 vote, and Ricketts signed it in late May.

State Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, took aim at Ricketts for decrying recent CDC guidance, even though the governor also supported and signed the new law.

Morfeld said he’s concerned that the governor is advising people not to follow CDC guidelines when those guidelines could protect them from potential lawsuits. As an attorney, he said, lawsuits like those covered by the law would be “really tough” cases to prove. Still, he said Ricketts’ statement “flies in the face of the same bill he promoted.”

State Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, a Republican who introduced the bill, did not take aim at the governor in his comments but said any entity should consider the new law when deciding what COVID mitigation measures to adopt.

The law was passed to provide businesses, schools, health care providers, government entities and others a measure of protection from unwarranted COVID exposure lawsuits, he said. In providing that shield, it also created an incentive to follow public health guidance, Briese said.

For the full article click HERE