Vaccine mandate exemption bill being revisited
State lawmakers this week are listening to public testimony for the first time on a fast-tracked bill to limit COVID-19 vaccine mandates and expand exemptions, after the bill failed to get enough support in the Ohio House.
Hearings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday were “informal hearings,” said Rep. Dick Stein, R-norwalk, House Commerce and Labor Committee chairman, only to determine “the line between personal freedom and companies’ rights... and where that lies.”
Republican leadership tried to rush House Bill 435 and pass it out quickly last week, but the speedy timeline resulted in pushback. Legislators are now taking more time to revisit the bill’s details.
The bill was meant to appease business and hospital groups who want to protect their ability to mandate the shot, as well as advocates for “medical freedom” who argue vaccination should not be imposed at all. Neither side liked the bill.
Legislators will have to try to thread that needle with HB 435, which currently would allow religious, medical or “natural immunity” exemptions to all COVID-19 vaccine mandates. But those working in intensive care units, children’s hospitals or hired after the bill becomes law can’t be exempt.
After the hearings, amendments will be considered. Around a dozen have been submitted so far, said Stein. He said he hasn’t seen all of them yet, but one, for example, would do away with differentiating between people hired before or after the bill is law.
As for where the bill is headed, Stein said Wednesday that it’s still unclear. The bill is still formally with leadership and hasn’t been given to any group of lawmakers to be amended. Informal hearings could possibly continue next week.
“I’m sure we’ll sit down with leadership to determine what a new draft might look like, and move forward from there,” he said.
The hearing room Wednesday was surprisingly not jam-packed. Lawmakers themselves were also surprised, with some speculating it was due to the short notice given.
Throughout the hearing, the same arguments for and against mandates were made.
“I do not mandate employment. I offer it,” said Ross Mcgregor, a former Republican state lawmaker, on behalf of the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “Everyone has the the right when they wake up in the morning when and where they want to work.”
He added that if HB 435 passes alongside President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, “it would just add more confusion. In business, that’s the kiss of death. You need to have... stability.”
But some questioned whether the ability to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine would be good economically.
“You can’t even find people willing to work a $15-a-hour fast food job... we’re just digging a hole deeper for ourselves,” said Rep. Don Jones, R-freeport.
Mitchell Marczewski, founder of the Ohio Medical Freedom Coalition, argued vaccine mandates do affect where people can work. He said that an acquaintance of his daughter had to abandon her nursing dream for refraining from the shot.
“No one should be threatened with the loss of education or employment, or suffer duress or otherwise be unduly influenced for refusing to be injected with a vaccine,” he said.
At one point, Marczewski made comparisons between vaccine mandates and slavery and cast doubt on whether anyone truly knew the vaccines’ efficacy, despite evidence otherwise. Rep. Juanita Brent, D-cleveland, shot back at the comparison.
“I was very insulted,” said Brent, who is Black. “This is not even in the same ballpark.”
Stein and other Republicans brought up the idea that one’s vaccination status shouldn’t be anybody else’s business. His constituents have asked him that if he can work in the Ohio House without showing proof of vaccination, why can’t they as well, he said.
But health groups testified in writing that the debate should be about more than rights and freedoms but the ability to contain a pandemic. Vaccine mandates are a needed tool to do so, they said.
Ultimately, finding a solution will be a hard task.
“I’m not sure this is one of those issues where you can ever make everyone happy,” Stein said. “I don’t think it’s going to be possible. So we’re just going to have to try to side with the largest majority and do the right thing.”
Titus Wu is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.