TN Governor Lee: No Mask Mandates, Vaccine Passports

CLAY: We are joined now by the governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee. Appreciate him taking the time to join us, especially since yesterday he issued an executive order in his state allowing all parents to make decisions about whether or not their kids wear masks in schools. Governor, thanks for joining us. How did you come to make that decision, and what has the reaction been to that executive order that you released yesterday?

GOV. LEE: Hey, Clay, thanks for having me on. Yeah, I have always been a really strong believer that parents know best what their children need. So, I’m a parent. I raised four kids, got eight grandkids. No one knows their kid like the parent. No one cares about their children more than their parents, and so in the middle of all of this covid world that we’re living in, which is people…

There’s a lot of fear, a lot of frustration, and a lot of anger, at the end of the day I think when we think about children in schools and covid and masks and vaccinations, it ought to be left up to the parent. I’m also a believer in government that’s closest to the people is the best. So, I think local decision-making is important. So our executive order actually gives the school district the authority to impose a mandate, but it gives the parent the ability to opt out of that if they choose it.

BUCK: Governor Lee, it’s Buck here. So, are some of the cities, localities, are any of them trying to take some kind of action against this? Are they fighting? Are they saying they’re going to ignore it or try to take you as governor to court? How is this being received?

GOV. LEE: Well, you know, this just happened yesterday afternoon; so, you know, we’re kind of getting some first responses of a couple of districts that have said, you know, they’re looking at their legal options. What I hope is that those districts… We have some almost 150 districts in our state. There are two of them that have kept their schools closed the longest, have been most…

Frankly, have had the worst outcomes academically of the rest of our districts. Most of the districts in this state have figured out how to navigate this forward. Actually, a couple of them had already imposed a mandate with an opt-out. I’m hopeful that these two districts that have already spoken up will actually realize, “Hey, this makes a lot of common sense. The rest of the districts in this state have figured out how to do it; we should too.”

CLAY: What would you tell parents who are in…? The two districts are Nashville and Memphis, mostly city schools. What would you tell parents there who may not want their kids to wear masks but the school districts are saying, “Hey, we don’t care necessarily about the governor’s order; you are expected to wear a mask in this school”? How should parents respond, in your mind, in Davidson County and in Shelby County and in Nashville and in Memphis?

GOV. LEE: I think one of the things that’s been important to me is that parents have really put voice to this all across the country, and it’s a part of what has occurred even in Tennessee. Parents have made their voices known, and they ought to make it known in the two counties and the two the school districts that we have that are making noise about not complying with the law. I would encourage parents to make their voice known and to let them know that the law as it stands is for them to opt out if that’s what they want to do.

BUCK: Governor Lee, Buck again. I just want to know how concerned you are as a governor all of state that’s trying to give parents choice about masks and also Tennessee… I’m a New Yorker — New York City, New York state — so I’ve had to suffer through some of the worst decision-making by a governor and by a mayor, I think, of anybody in the country during covid.

How concerned are you about federal policy starting to infringe upon the freedoms and protections that the residents of the state of Tennessee should have? Essentially the Biden administration coming in and whether it’s on interstate travel mandates, about vaccination or anything else here. Aare you worried? Are you saying some indicators of something you may have to combat as a governor?

GOV. LEE: Well, worried? (chuckles) You know, I don’t worry about that. I certainly see it coming. We watch this every day. Since January we’ve seen government overreach and the federal government trying to tell states what to do on policy after policy. So I won’t be at all surprised if we see that kind of government intervention into what we do as a state.

But we will push back and we will talk back. When they tell us what to do, we will tell them what we’re gonna do. I really think that states have a lot of power constitutionally. They have a lot of power in this country. The majority of states are run by Republicans. There is a great awareness, and I think you’ve seen that, even, the federal government will say what they think states ought to do, but states don’t comply because they don’t have to, constitutionally, and I’m not scared of that or worried about it. I’m just prepared for it.

CLAY: We’re talking to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Governor, you had an employee inside of Tennessee, a vaccination director, Dr. Michelle Fiscus who went on CNN and said that she got a dog muzzle sent to her because people were upset about some of the things that she was saying. She’s since no longer with the state of Tennessee. But in an investigation yesterday, according to a report from Axios, the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security determined the muzzle was purchased from a credit card in this woman’s name. It’s a wild story. When did you become aware of this story, and what can you tell us, if anything, about your knowledge of that investigation?

GOV. LEE: You know, I knew our Department of Safety was investigating it and the report came out yesterday. I actually haven’t read the report myself. I’ve got a lot more to think about (chuckles) than a disgruntled ex-employee. As an employer for 35 years, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that. I move on to the next subject. So I’ll read the report at some point, but (laughs) I’m not spending a lot of time there.

BUCK: Governor Lee, can you tell us about your possible coordination with governors of like-minded states? Ron DeSantis of Florida comes to mind, Governor Abbott of Texas, perhaps a few others that I’m not even naming here. Do you speak to any other governors about covid policy? Are you, you know, reaching out to experts or to folks in those states to see what’s working for them and what’s not?

GOV. LEE: Yes. I’ve actually chaired what they called the Public Policy Committee of the Republican Governors Association. There’s 27 governors. During covid in particular in the last year, we have weekly or biweekly calls where there are 10, 12, 15 governors on the call, and we talk for an hour every week — we did in the height of the pandemic — about issues that we share, challenges that we face.

I talk to governors every week. I will one-off call a governor — Governor Ricketts about something that’s happened or Governor Stitt in Oklahoma or Governor Abbott. For example, I called Governor Abbott when was about to go to the border, and I talked with Governor Ducey in Arizona about this last week; so how do we states that are not border states help?

How can we be helpful not only in our policy, but in our messaging to the federal government. Yes, sir, I talk to governors on a regular basis about everything from the energy policy in this country that has been threatened by things like Keystone pipeline cancellation to the border catastrophe that we have, and covid, issues that matter to all of us.

CLAY: Governor Lee, appreciate the time. Last question for you. The Raiders — the Oakland Raiders used to be, now the Las Vegas Raiders — are requiring vaccine passports to go to a football game in the NFL this year. New York City just implemented its own vaccine passports. Sports have been an important part of normalcy, and you did a great job in sharing that high school sports were played and that kids were in person in school in Tennessee last year.

Do you anticipate that people will be able to go to full stadiums to watch the Titans play, to watch the University of Tennessee and other big sports venues without needing any sort of covid vaccine passport? Is that allowed under Tennessee law? What kind of expectations do you have as we move closer and closer to what is a big deal all over the South — and all over the country, really — football season?

GOV. LEE: I sure hope that no one moves toward that in our state or across the south. Vaccine passports or the concept of vaccine passports? Terrible idea, and I’m not talking about political. I’m a business guy. Why would you want to shun after of your customers, and why would you want to create a hardship for finding employees in this environment where companies are desperate to find good, developed workforce?

So it’s a bad business idea, and it’s forcing people. In Tennessee, we’re not gonna force or coerce or blame or shame. Look. Vaccines are important. We have worked really hard to make ’em available. We got a hundred 10,000 people a week getting a vaccine right now in Tennessee, which is way up and we’re glad for that. I got a vaccine. It keeps people safe. I’m encouraging people to do it. But making them do it is counterproductive. In fact, in my view, it creates hesitancy, and I hope that doesn’t happen.

BUCK: Governor Lee, thanks so much for being here on the Clay and Buck show. We appreciate it.

GOV. LEE: Awesome. Thank ya’ll. Have a good day.