By Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune
After several attempts by Republicans to curb COVID-19 vaccine mandates through Texas employers, lawmakers finally achieved a statewide ban after the law won House approval on Wednesday.
Violators would face a whopping $50,000 fine, according to an amendment passed Wednesday by the Texas House of Representatives. The bill’s sponsor called it the strictest ban of its kind in the country.
“This bill is not intended to infringe on employers’ ability to protect their workers in the workplace. And this bill is not about which vaccines are smart or bad, or which vaccines a user does or doesn’t take,” said state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, the bill’s sponsor in the House. “This bill is more about who decides. “
The Texas House of Representatives gave its initial approval to Senate Bill 7 by a vote of 90 to 57, with all Republicans in favor and most Democrats against, following a heated debate over the merits and protection of the vaccine, the effect of employer mandates on Texas workers, the rights of private business owners vis-à-vis individuals, the desirability of allowing stricter exceptions for hospitals and doctors, and the effect of the bill on medically vulnerable populations.
The Texas Senate last week passed the legislation, drafted through state Rep. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, and the bill will go to a convention committee to examine the House changes. Abbott has included the ban in his schedule for the special legislative session. , which can last only two weeks.
SB 7 would prohibit private businesses from requiring their workers and contractors to be vaccinated against COVID.
Health care services would be allowed to require unvaccinated workers and contractors to wear teams of five, such as masks, or take other “reasonable” actions for medically vulnerable patients.
The same allowances can also apply to other personal employers under the bill, lawmakers on both sides of the debate said, though it’s not as obviously explained for that group. The law only prohibits moves made against an unvaccinated worker that the Texas Labor Commission deems to be punitive or otherwise destructive to the worker.
Enforcement would be monitored through labor court cases before the commission, and violators would face a $50,000 fine in the House version (or $1 to $10,000 in the Senate bill) and possible prosecution through the Texas attorney general to prevent further violations.
The commission also has the power to refer cases to district courts for the prosecution of offenders, and can do so under this law as well, the bill does not create any new offences or grounds for prosecution.
House supporters said the bill was necessary to protect Americans’ rights to make their own health care decisions without negative consequences for their livelihoods. They also extended the bill’s protections to nursing and medical academics who would work in those facilities but would not be considered. as employees.
“I’m a firm believer that the decision to get vaccinated or not . . . it should be a very private decision in collaboration with a person’s doctor and grounded through medical expertise, based on deeply held private values,” Leach said. This bill protects employees’ right not to be vaccinated and to retain their abilities to work and apply for employment.
Opponents have argued that the ban would restrict fitness professionals’ ability to impose vaccine policies that reduce the threat of spreading the virus to their patients. Supporters have opposed attempts by Democrats to exclude fitness and child care services from the ban.
“It’s about protecting your most vulnerable constituents, your most vulnerable circle of family and friends,” said state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, a public relations representative whose clients come from hospitals.
Some critics said the bill would also undermine the rights of companies to make their own policy decisions.
Some lawmakers have also said they are concerned that business owners may be subject to high legal and administrative fees when trying to implement other measures for their employees. The bill does not specify what those parameters are.
Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat who runs a real estate investment firm, tried to amend the bill to include a list of what his own employers could do with a vaccine mandate, such as requiring unvaccinated painters to work from home. , replace desks, or wear personal protective equipment.
“Employers will have to react and propose interventions to protect their workers while respecting the principles of this bill,” said Ancia. “It’s important . . . that we give them transparent instructions. “
Leach said employers will most likely require unvaccinated workers to wear protective appliances, just as physical care services are allowed to do under the bill, but declined to list the express measures that would ultimately be allowed.
Levery One said it’s not up to lawmakers to draw the lines, adding that the hard-working board will judge each case separately.
“Employers can continue with their employees,” he said. No one should be fired for choosing not to get vaccinated. “
Anchia has failed.
Texans lived for 3 years under a statewide COVID-19 emergency declaration, which Abbott maintained despite his party’s reluctance. He has vowed to lift it only after lawmakers codify his decrees banning local COVID restrictions.
During the regular session, lawmakers prohibited local governments from requiring masks, vaccinations or closing businesses in reaction to COVID-19. This law came into force on September 1. However, efforts to extend the ban to businesses have failed.
Abbott ended the emergency declaration over the summer, which proponents of the bill said led to a great need among workers who didn’t want to get vaccinated against the virus.
Summer Republican Drama
The thing sparked a very private and very bitter war among House Republicans on social media in late August.
Midlothian Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison has publicly criticized House Calendars Committee Chairman Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, and House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, for allowing his bill banning all vaccine mandates to expire without a vote in the regular May session.
Harrison continued to beat the drum on the eve of the internal debate on the bill, which he co-sponsored.
“While #Txlege House leaders have PROTECTED vaccine mandates #covid for more than two years. . . the Texas Senate has approved spending to ban them,” he wrote on social media.
Harrison was a staff leader for the U. S. Health and Human Services Commission. The U. S. government has launched a COVID vaccine under then-President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed to boost the progression and distribution of a COVID vaccine amid lockdowns early in the pandemic.
Burrows responded harshly with a series of messages calling Harrison a “braggart” who “now pretends he cares” and a “bureaucrat who spent his time in Washington overseeing the closure of a small business and ruining his family’s life. “
“[Dr. Anthony] Fauci and Harrison lied and other people died,” Burrows wrote. “He didn’t care enough to get out of his house and check to make sure his expenses were approved. . . It just happens he cares” on Twitter.
Leach, a sponsor of the vaccine bill passed by the House on Wednesday, joined the fray.
“Brian, you were the self-proclaimed leader architect of the unconstitutional COVID regime that stripped millions of Americans of their rights, freedoms, and livelihoods,” Leach wrote on X. “You can do all the TV interviews you need, but until Si comes, draws a blank and takes on the mess and destruction that many of his policies have caused to hardworking Americans, he can’t, won’t, and shouldn’t expect hardworking Americans to accept as true. with you.
The war drew a number of Republicans at a time when the House GOP was already divided over the ouster of Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Harrison’s allies were calling Burrows and other Republicans “on call only” for trying to impeach Paxton on corruption allegations.
Paxton was eventually acquitted in the Senate and returned to power, intensifying tensions between the factions.
Harrison tried several times Wednesday to replace the bill, with Leach at one point accusing Harrison of “trying to kill the bill” with one of his amendments. The two men substituted indirect comments in the debate. But in the end, warring Republicans voted together to pass the legislation.
“Texans value freedom and you really can’t have freedom without it,” said Harrison, who voted in favor of the bill.
This article appeared in The Texas Tribune in https://www. texastribune. org/2023/10/25/texas-legislature-covid-vaccine-mandates/.
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