Indianapolis keeps mask mandate, business health restrictions despite new legislation Amelia Pak-Harvey, Indianapolis Star
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Indianapolis city officials moved quickly to keep the current Marion County public health orders in place Monday night, just hours after legislators voted to void all local coronavirus restrictions.
The new legislation, Senate Bill 5, requires local health departments to get approval from the local legislative bodies and mayors if a city seeks to enact health orders that are more strict than statewide restrictions.
The health board or health officer also cannot file a court action to enforce a health order unless it receives approval from the legislative body, such as the City-County Council.
Republicans opposed the measure in a party-line vote.
Councilor Josh Bain, who initially pushed for a repeal of the mask mandate last year, argued that the council should be the body to create the guidelines. All we are doing here is shifting all of our responsibility over to the county health department, Bain said. I think what we should do here is we should have timelines on the guidelines that we are passing.
But Democrats voiced support for following public health experts, including Dr. Virginia Caine, the director of the Marion County Public Health Department. The council is made up of some amazingly smart individuals with very diverse backgrounds and expertise, said Democratic majority leader Maggie Lewis. However, when I check our current roster there are no medical doctors that serve on the Indianapolis City-County Council. Therefore, I think it s up to us a leaders of this community to get behind Dr. Caine.
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The City of Indianapolis rental assistance program is once again open and processing applications. Author: Dustin Grove Updated: 2:01 PM EDT April 5, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS The City of Indianapolis reopened its rental assistance program on Monday, processing applications from about 17,000 households currently on the waitlist.
Qualifying households will receive up to three months of rent help which can be used for current expenses, future expenses, back rent or late fees, according to Deputy Mayor Jeff Bennett.
About $33 million is now available for families who ve lost income because of COVID-19. Most of the funding comes from the federal CARES Act, passed by Congress in December. A smaller amount was appropriated by the Indianapolis City-County Council.