TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida House and Senate have given Gov. Ron DeSantis the ban on vaccine mandates that he has asked for despite Democrats best efforts at slowing it down.
The four bills are now on their way for the governor’s signature.
There were days of questions and debates on bill HB1B that “prohibits private employers from imposing COVID-19 vaccination mandate for certain employees,” among other directives.
Democrats’ failed at their attempts to make changes.
“Let’s call this what it is and this is the governor’s direct defiance of the President and the federal government,” State Senator Shevrin Jones, the Democrat from West Park, said.
The four bills prevent COVID-19 mandates in Florida and get the governor his nationally watched clapback at the Biden administration over requiring vaccines in the workplace.
State Rep. Tom Fabricio, a Republican from Northwest Miami Dade, said that “many of his constituents want to be vaccinated, but they want that to be their choice.”
One of the bills replaces OSHA with state oversight.
“I can’t believe a $5 million bill and not a single attendant part about how it’s spent,” State Rep. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat from Miami, said during the session.
One bill shields the identifications of businesses cited for requiring vaccines and employees who file complaints. It needed some Democrat’s votes to pass a supermajority and got some.
The vaccine mandate ban does allow medical and religions exemptions, and employee options to mask and test.
Some of the harsher punishments for businesses were left out in a nod to the business community Republicans traditionally count on for support.