California regulators withdraw controversial work mask rules

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s workplace regulators have reversed themselves for the second time in a week.

They withdrew a controversial, pending mask regulation late Wednesday.

That will give them time to consider a rule that more closely aligns with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s promise that the state will fully reopen from the pandemic on Tuesday.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board’s revised rule would have allowed workers to forego masks only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. That contrasts with the state’s broader plan to do away with virtually all masking requirements for vaccinated people in concert with the latest recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Withdrawing that worksite rule allows the board to consider changes at its June 17 meeting and potentially have them go into effect by month’s end.

The goal, said board chairman David Thomas, is to change the workplace regulation “so that it matches up with the CDC and the California Department of Public Health, so that we’re all on the same page. That’s what this is about, so we’re not out of step with everybody else.”

The safety board’s staff was not specific on what changes it will recommend next week, other than it will try to more closely conform the workplace rules with public health guidelines.

But Eric Berg, deputy chief of health for California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, said the public health guidelines generally allow anyone who is vaccinated to skip wearing a mask indoors, while outdoors masks aren't needed except at very large events.

Under those rules, he said, “a vaccinated person would not have to wear a mask at work.”

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