In mid-June 2020, some county officials requested that the governor grant them the power to fine individuals for not wearing a mask in public, as local governments were prohibited from doing so by the governor's order; the governor refused. Nelson Wolff, the Bexar County judge, found a loophole in the order, and on June 17 issued an order fining businesses for allowing in customers without a mask. Other counties and cities followed suit. In response, the governor said this had been the "plan all along", which some local officials doubted, and that the judge "finally figured that out". This angered some people in areas where people had been dying of COVID-19.
