House members are set to vote on a bill that would ban schools and employers from requiring the two COVID vaccines that don’t have full FDA approval. The bill, suddenly changed and voted out of committee this morning, also creates very broad COVID vaccine exemptions and bans requiring proof of vaccine status or so-called "vaccine passports" by public and private entities.
The bill originally would exempt bars from statewide curfews. But that language was erased and new vaccine exemptions language was added from a bill that had twice stalled before a vote because of overwhelming opposition from business and health care groups.
House Speaker Bob Cupp (R-Lima) had said last monththat the House was "moving on" from vaccine mandate bills.
The bill came to the House floor after the Commerce and Labor Committee passed it Thursday morning on a party line vote 8-5.
Democrats including Rep. Janine Boyd (D-Cleveland) were furious.
"The original bill, that's the same bill number of a bill that had nothing to do with this language. It's a completely different language, so that's pulling a fast one," Boyd said. "There's no other way to describe that. That's simply pulling a fast one."
Rep. Al Cutrona (R-sponsored the original bill, and says the change has nothing to do with reports that some of his colleagues were hoping to trade their votes for the Congressional map for movement on a vaccine mandate bill.
"This has nothing to do with the other - that's comparing apples and oranges," Cutrona said. "We have had the votes in favor of the maps. This is just great timing to move across legislation before the end of the year. This is what our districts want. This is what we are pushing forward on."
Opposition to the vaccine exemptions bill that was brought up last month was thunderous, and came from more than 100 groups allied as the Ohio Vaccine Coalition. It includes major health systems, the Ohio Hospital Association, the Ohio Manufacturers Association and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
Republican former Congressman Steve Stivers, now the Ohio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, said this was “an act of legislative terrorism to force this bill to the floor.”
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