Dallas (WBAP/KLIF) – Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a letter to Dallas County to correct public health orders that conflict with state orders.
The letters were sent to avoid any public confusion as Texas begins to reopen.
Paxton says these conflicted requirements include demands for houses of worship, restrictions on allowing essential services to operate, penalties for not wearing masks and criminal penalties for violating state or local health orders to name a few.
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The letters went to officials in San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.
Paxton also said that if there are areas doing more than the state requires then, “We can go in and follow-up and adjoin what they’re doing,” adding that he thinks they’d be successful.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins released his response to the AG’s letter, saying the public health guidelines were based on Governor Abbott’s recommendations; “never imagining he did not want his own guidelines followed.”
Here is my statement in response to @KenPaxtonTX pic.twitter.com/mcjEA4Ckff
— Clay Jenkins (@JudgeClayJ) May 12, 2020
In response, Paxton said the Jenkins’ orders were more respective than what the governor order. Paxton added that if Jenkins is “following the science” on issuing recommendations, then there are other medical experts who say the country should open now and some say wait for an vaccine. According to Paxton, “there is a lot of ambiguity on what the science actually means.”
(Copyright 2020 WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News)
