Legislature Votes No Vaccine Employer Mandate
The Idaho House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow Idahoans the freedom not to take a vaccine for employment. The bill passed House 49-21, reports the Idaho Press. Representative Priscilla Giddings, the bill's sponsor, told KIDO Talk Radio this morning that the legislation is necessary because employees are being threatened with termination if they do not get vaccinated.
The bill will now go to the Senate for deliberation. If passed by the Senate, the governor will have to sign it to become law. The bill requires that all businesses that do business with the state of Idaho can't punish or terminate employees for not being vaccinated.
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate has been a hot topic in and out of the Idaho Legislature. The media has called Idahoans 'antivaxers' who are against mandatory vaccination. Idaho is currently in Stage 3 of recovering from the Covid protocols.
Representative Giddings told KIDO Talk Radio that she had to move her legislation to another committee because another committee chairman refused to bill a hearing. Three prominent groups have come out against the bill. They are the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities. Idaho Medical Association, and the Idaho Hospital Association.
Some representatives expressed their concern about how the bill could impact Idaho workers and reports the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
Rep. Fred Wood, “If we pass this bill, what we as a Legislature are doing is creating a protected class in employment law,” he said. “Is that what we should be doing? I think not.”
There were nine Republicans who voted against the bill, along with some Democrats.
UP NEXT: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving