TAMPA, Fla.  — A Republican Florida lawmaker has filed a lawsuit against Hillsborough County over its mask ordinance.

State Representative Anthony Sabatini filed a lawsuit against the county after the Emergency Policy Group passed the ordinance last week. The mandate requires any residents to wear masks while indoors in public spaces if they cannot stay six feet apart from others.

Sabatini said local mask ordinances are a violation of civil liberties, specifically due process, privacy laws and equal protection.

"There was probably a question for the first two weeks we were in a true emergency when it came to covid.  And then it just became health mitigation which we should always be doing," Sabatini told the Tampa Bay Young Republicans over the weekend.  "So they are using a status of an emergency to jam down new rules and laws that have no bearing on our health or safety."

Opinions have become divided in recent weeks over the use of masks and whether they do anything to protect people from contracting or spreading Coronavirus.  

Some have argued masks can increase health risks for people, especially those with breathing difficulties.

Hillsborough County and the Emergency Policy group have been silent about the lawsuit since it was filed last week. County Commissioner Les Miller, a proponent of masks, has said publicly the EPG did nothing wrong in implementing the mask ordinance.

Representative Sabatini will hold a press conference outside the Hillsborough County Courthouse Monday at 11:30 a.m. to officially announce the lawsuit.