March 21, 2024
Source: Nola
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The state House agreed Wednesday to prevent businesses that don’t mandate COVID-19 and other emergency-use vaccines from getting sued if their employees get sick, one of multiple bills aimed at vaccines that lawmakers will consider this session.
The bill, House Bill 25, passed the chamber in a 79-24 vote, and now heads to a Senate committee. It must pass both chambers and be signed by the governor before it can become law.
Its sponsor, state Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, said the proposal aims to protect businesses from “frivolous lawsuits,” while another supporter, state Rep. Emily Chenevert, said she hoped the legislation would ensure businesses would not feel pressured to mandate the vaccines.
Criticism of HB 25 came mostly from Democrats.
State Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, warned that the bill could stymie lawsuits over deaths that occur after patients contract illnesses in health care facilities. She presented a hypothetical scenario in which she was a healthcare worker with COVID-19.
“If they do not mandate (a COVID-19 vaccination) and they allow me to come to work,” she said, speaking to McCormick. “(And) you contract it from me ... you die, your wife has no right to sue the facility for not mandating. Is that what your bill does?”
“I don’t think that’s a real-life scenario,” McCormick replied, arguing it would not be possible to prove where someone contracted COVID-19.
Originally, McCormick’s bill applied only to COVID-19 mandates. Chenevert amended it to delete the language around COVID-19 and cover “experimental or emergency use authorized” vaccines.
Another proposal to make it easier to sue businesses that do require the shots, House Bill 87, narrowly died Wednesday on 51-50 vote, but could be revived later. (The House needs 53 votes to pass a bill.) The bill would allow anyone harmed by a mandated emergency-use vaccine to sue for damages, though it was amended to provide exceptions for certain health care facilities with such mandates.
HB 87’s sponsor, Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, said his proposal would ensure people have the right to opt out of the COVID vaccine, which he called ineffective and harmful, if they choose.
There is no evidence of widespread harm caused by the COVID-19 vaccine, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, severe reactions after vaccinations are rare.
“The federal government and state government should not force us to lose our health freedom,” Echols said. “I’m not against vaccines. I’m against (the COVID-19 vaccine) one being forced on us again and again.”
But the bill's critics, including the state’s powerful business lobby, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, said it could hurt businesses.
LABI has “concerns that Rep. Echols is adding a cause of action against Louisiana employers at a time when they are facing the highest insurance costs in the country,” LABI president and CEO Will Green said in a statement. “We hope to work with Rep. Echols to address these concerns.”
Lawmakers this session will also consider House Bill 46 and 47, which allow unvaccinated students to enroll in schools, and House Bill 711, which requires parental consent before children can be vaccinated.
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