Mask mandates, vaccine passes face scrutiny
COLUMBUS — Businesses and schools are setting their own mask and vaccination requirements, but Ohio Republicans have plans to pare back both types of policy when they return to the Statehouse this fall.
Schools, grocery stores and restaurants across the country are starting to require face masks again as infections from the delta variant spike.
Ohio is no exception, but whether your local bar can keep mandating masks or require vaccinations for its employees hinges on what Republicans do when they return to Columbus in September.
State lawmakers — who have been on a summer break since passing the budget in June — have a laundry list of COVID-19 related bills that have already been introduced. Here’s what Republicans say they plan to prioritize.
Face masks in schools
Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati public schools will require students and staff to wear face masks indoors when school starts in a few weeks, but other districts like Dublin and Olentangy will not.
“If the policy is a good policy, it should be implemented statewide. If not, it shouldn’t be implemented at all,” said Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-delaware.
He’s introduced Senate Bill 209, which would ban both the state and local school districts from requiring anyone to wear a facial covering in a school.
Brenner said he isn’t convinced the pros of masking kids (who are at low risk for serious COVID-19 symptoms) outweigh the cons.
“If there is a serious outbreak in an area, that’s fine,” Brenner said. But he said there should be a statewide standard for determining when schools can require masks.
Democrats and public school advocates were quick to condemn the idea, saying a blanket ban violated the local control rights of school districts.
“It’s a terrible piece of legislation,” Ohio Education Association President Scott Dimauro said. “If you start limiting the ability to require masks, you increase the likelihood that schools will have to shut down and transition to remote learning.”
SB 209 hasn’t had a hearing yet. Brenner introduced it in July — after lawmakers left for the summer. He hopes to pass it by the end of September or early October.
Whether that’s possible depends, in large part, on whether Republican leadership in the House and Senate support it.
“We sort of need to comb through all the data and make sure people aren’t saying wear a mask just to wear a mask,” Senate President Matt Huffman, R-lima, said.
He wants to hear more about the whys and why nots for masking kids.
No shot, no job
Huffman is less sure, however, about a blanket ban on businesses that want to require a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment.
“We have a lot of conservative Republicans who say businesses shouldn’t force this,” Huffman said. “And I have a lot of other conservative Republicans who say, ‘Hey, I thought we were for deregulation and not telling businesses what to do.’”
House Bill 248 would prohibit businesses from requiring any kind of vaccination, but Rep. Al Cutrona, R-youngstown, has what he calls a more measured approach to “a very delicate situation.”
His bill, House Bill 350, would only block employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccines, and it would exempt healthcare businesses like hospitals, doctors’ offices and nursing homes.
“What I have attempted to do is as much of a balancing act as an individual can do in these times,” Cutrona told lawmakers during the first hearing for his bill in June.
Still, Democrats like Rep. Jeff Crossman, D-parma, said the bill was “a pretty heavyhanded approach.”
He’s not convinced this is a situation where Ohio should be telling businesses how to operate.
HB 350 would make firing someone for not being vaccinated against the coronavirus an act of discrimination, and businesses could be held liable in court.
Huffman isn’t convinced businesses would fire people in the first place — especially when it’s been such a struggle to find employees. Lots of businesses, he said, already work with folks who can’t get vaccinated for health reasons or ask for religious exemptions.
“I have a problem laying down a whole regulatory scheme for something that’s unlikely to happen,” he said.
Vaccine passports
Whether business and events such as football games or concerts can require proof of vaccination is another issue that divides Ohio Republicans.
Cutrona introduced House Bill 253. The bill would prevent private companies that develop vaccine passports from sharing or selling any medical information they collect. But it would also ban state agencies and schools from blocking entry to their buildings based on someone’s vaccination status.
But the bill is silent on whether private businesses could do so.
Ohio Wesleyan, for example, is requiring students get vaccinated before they return to campus. And the private university would still be able to mandate that if HB 253 passed.