Kevin West Advances Bill to Keep Businesses Open During Pandemics
OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill that would prohibit the governor from closing any business during a pandemic without documented scientific evidence that the nature of the business actually contributes to the spread of the disease passed the House Commerce and Economic Development Oversight Committee on Tuesday. Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, is the House author of Senate Bill 672 . "I believe this bill threads the needle between everybody's rights," West said. "The right to be safe, the right to have your business open, the right to make money. This goes right along with Article Two, Section Two of our Oklahoma Constitution, which states that all persons have the inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry." West said according to the language of this bill, the governor would still have the ability to close businesses during a pandemic to protect public health if there is scientific evidence that a particular business is a contributor to the spread of the disease. The governor would have to give notice and the opportunity for a hearing for any business determined to be nonessential or determined to be detrimental to public health. This would give the business a course of action to plead their case and possibly stay open. This is not too high of a bar for the governor to achieve, West said. With contact tracing and other tools at the disposal of health care workers now, he said its possible to accurately and definitively determine if a business is putting the public at risk. He pointed to the example of the City of Moore during the COVID pandemic. The city let people decide for themselves whether to close their business or whether to frequent a business based on their own concerns and health needs. As a result, visitors from surrounding communities – where businesses were forced to close or limit their hours – came to Moore to shop. Even with the increased number of people, Moore still showed no signs of being a superspreader, West said. In addition, the city exceeded their revenue expectations during this time. West said there was no consistent reasoning for some of the decisions to close businesses during COVID. He gave the example of bars that were forced to close after 10 p.m., as if the threat of the spread of the disease was less before 10 p.m. than later at night. He also acknowledged that smaller businesses were at times forced to close while larger big box stores were allowed to remain open, again with no proof that one business was safer than another. The bill passed 14-3 and now is eligible to be considered on the House floor.