The Idaho state legislature last week passed legislation that would ban businesses from requiring a Covid-19 vaccination for employment or service and would prevent unvaccinated individuals from “being treated differently or discriminated against.”
The bill, backed by Republican lawmakers and known as the Coronavirus Pause Act, landed on Gov. Brad Little’s desk this week. Mr. Little, also a Republican, has not said whether he will veto or sign it, and Marissa Morrison Hyer, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in a statement Saturday that Mr. Little “does not comment on pending legislation.”
The bill states that the decision to receive a vaccine is “a very personal and individual decision” and should not be dictated by public or private bodies.
Health officials have said the vaccines approved in the US are safe and effective in preventing serious illness and death.
Critics of the bill say the measure will further hurt businesses already struggling during the pandemic.
“Criminalizing corporations is a really terrible thing,” State Senator Melissa Wintrow, a Democrat who opposes the law, said in the Senate last week.
State Senator Chuck Winder, a Republican who supported the bill, said in the Senate last week that the measure would “call into question the protection of the rights of the worker while attempting to protect the rights of the employer.”
However, some members of his party disagreed, such as State Senator Jim Guthrie, who voted against the bill and said in the Senate: “Private sector companies have been through enough in the past and they have enough to worry about without this mandate.”
The bill passed mainly along party lines. If a company violated the bill, it would face a misdemeanor or a fine of up to $1,000, the bill said.
According to federal data, about 54 percent of eligible Idaho residents are fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in the country.