Under existing law, an employer is not prohibited from requiring vaccinations for its employees or from taking adverse action against its employees for refusing to receive a vaccination. This bill would prohibit an employer from taking adverse action against an employee or prospective employee based on the employee's immunization status.
Referred to committee, 2/2
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H 214: Coronavirus Vaccine Discrimination
Alabama
Extends a previous health order and includes, "A person may not require an individual to provide justification or documentation to support the individual's decision to decline a COVID-19 vaccine"
In Senate committee, 2/12
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S 56: Coronavirus Disaster Emergency Declaration Extension
Alaska
Amends existing legislation to include, "notwithstanding any other law, a person may not be required to take, be administered or otherwise receive or disclose whether the person has taken, been administered or otherwise received a covid-19 vaccine as a condition of employment, entry into any business or public space or receipt of any service or good," and prohibits discrimination against individuals who refuse the vaccine.
Referred to committee, 2/1
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S 1648: COVID Vaccine
Arizona
Prohibits mandatory coronavirus immunizations or vaccinations for students and employees and a requirement for a vaccination or immunization for coronavirus except in certain conditions, declares an emergency.
Referred to committee, 2/23
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H 1547: Mandatory Coronavirus Immunizations or Vaccinations
Arkansas
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"The bill prohibits an employer, including a licensed health facility, from taking adverse action against an employee or an applicant for employment based on the employee's or applicant's COVID-19 immunization status. The bill allows an aggrieved employee or applicant for employment to file a civil action for injunctive, affirmative, and equitable relief and, if the employer or health facility acted with malice or wanton or willful misconduct or has repeatedly violated the law, the court may also award punitive damages and attorney fees and costs.
Additionally, the bill specifies that the COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory, that the state cannot require any individual to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine, and that government agencies and private businesses, including health insurers, cannot discriminate against clients, patrons, or customers based on their COVID-19 vaccination status. A person aggrieved by a violation of these prohibitions may file a civil action for injunctive and other appropriate relief and may be awarded punitive damages and attorney fees and costs for wanton, willful, or repeated violations."
Referred to committee, 3/4
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H 1191: Prohibit Discrimination COVID-19 Vaccine Status
Colorado
The Senate proposal prohibits the state from mandating a vaccine that has only been given emergency use authorization from the federal food and drug administration, ensures that long-term vaccine studies are performed on a vaccine before the vaccine is mandated by the state. The House proposal prohibits employers and public officials from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Referred to commitee, 1/26
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S 405: Mandating a Vaccine; and H 5402: Vacinnation Proof
Connecticut
Removes the State's authority to forcibly isolate, quarantine, vaccinate, or treat individuals against their will for COVID-19 during a state of emergency relating to COVID-19, makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Referred to committee, 2/12
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S 58: Public Health Emergencies
Delaware
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Removes authority of State Health Officer to order vaccinations upon declaration of public health emergency, revises requirement that DOH adopt certain rules.
Referred to committee 3/2
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H 6003: Vaccinations During Public Health Emergencies
Florida
No law, rule, or order, by any state or local government shall require the receipt of vaccines used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, for any reason, including, but not limited to, as a condition of employment, school attendance, professional licensure, educational certification or degree, admittance to any place of business or entertainment, or access to any mode of transportation," and that " no person who objects in writing thereto on grounds that the receipt of vaccines used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 conflicts with his or her philosophical beliefs shall be required to receive any such vaccine.
Referred to committee, 2/16
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H 413: Prohibits Vaccine Requirements
Georgia
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Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including during the continuance of any state of disaster or emergency or any proclaimed state of extreme emergency, insurrection, or martial law, neither the governor nor any agency of any governmental entity or political subdivision of the state, including without limitation the department of health and welfare, a public health district, a county, a city, an agency, or a board, may adopt or enforce any law, rule, regulation, or ordinance that mandates, requires, or orders the vaccination, immunization, genetic modulation, or inoculation of any person.
Referred to committee, 2/1
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HB 63: Untitled
Idaho
Provides that it is unlawful for an employer in the State of Illinois to create, implement, or otherwise enforce a workplace vaccination program that requires any employee to demonstrate to the employer that he or she has received a vaccine that was approved under emergency use authorization by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Provides for repeal of the Act on January 1, 2023.
Referred to committee, 2/22
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HB3682: COVID 19 Workplace Vaccination Program Limitation Act
Illinois
"Prohibits an employer from requiring, as a condition of employment, an employee or prospective employee to receive an immunization that: (1) has been approved for emergency use; and (2) lacks full approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Prohibits an employer from: (1) inquiring into; or (2) otherwise requiring an employee or prospective employee to disclose; the reason for refusing an immunization that: (A) has been approved for emergency use; and (B) lacks full approval from the FDA.
Allows for a civil cause of action against an employer for specified violations."
Referred to committee, 1/13
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H 1488: Vaccination Exemptions
Indiana
An employer shall not fail or refuse to hire, discharge, penalize, or otherwise discriminate against an employee with respect to compensation or the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on either of the following: 1. The employee’s vaccination history. 2. The refusal of the employee to receive a vaccine or provide proof of immunity. AND An employee whose rights are violated under this chapter may bring an action against an employer in the district court in the county where the employer is located for injunctive relief, actual damages, admission or reinstatement of the employee with back pay plus ten percent interest, or any other appropriate relief necessary to ensure compliance with this chapter.
Referred to House committee, 2/2; In Senate, 3/4
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House File 330 and Senate File 555
Iowa
Prohibits an employer from taking any adverse employment against against an employee because of the employee's vaccination status.
Referred to committee, 3/5
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SB 213
Kansas
In the event of an epidemic in a given area, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services may, by emergency regulation, require the immunization of all persons within the area of epidemic, against the disease responsible for such epidemic, except that any administrative regulation promulgated pursuant to KRS Chapter 13A, administrative order issued by the cabinet, or executive order issued pursuant to KRS Chapter 39A requiring such immunization shall not include: ... (c) The immunization of any emancipated minor or adult who is opposed to medical immunization against disease, and who objects by a written sworn statement to the immunization based on religious grounds or conscientiously held beliefs.
Referred to committee, 2/22
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S 37: Immunizations
Kentucky
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Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, mandatory vaccinations for coronavirus disease 2019, which is also known as COVID-19, are prohibited for 5 years from the date of a vaccine's first emergency use authorization by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration in order to allow for safety testing and investigations into reproductive harm.
Referred to committee, 3/10
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H 635: An Act To Prohibit Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations
Maine
For the purpose of prohibiting an employer from terminating an employee solely on the basis of the employee's refusal to receive a vaccination against COVID-19; providing that an employee waives the right to file a civil action against the employer if the employee has refused to receive a certain vaccination and the employee contracts COVID-19 in the course of employment; defining certain terms; making this Act an emergency measure; providing for the termination of this Act; and generally relating to vaccination refusal by employees.
Hearing scheduled 3/9
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HB 1171: Employee Protection Plan for Vaccine Refusal
Maryland
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No vaccine shall be administered under this section unless the individual receiving the vaccine gives written consent to the vaccination. For a child or an individual who is not able to give consent, the parent or legal guardian shall first give written consent prior to the administration of a vaccine. The requirement for written consent applies during a state of emergency, including peacetime emergency. No government official or agent of government shall attempt to coerce or compel an individual to consent to vaccination by means of withholding a government benefit such as a stimulus check, MFIP, general assistance, supplemental aid, health care programs, diversionary work programs, unemployment compensation, student loans, or any other form of government assistance.
Rerferred to committee, 3/4
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HF 1243: Consent for Vaccination
Minnesota
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A public employer shall not require any public employee to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
Introduced 1/14
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HB 838: COVID-19 Vaccination
Missouri
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To maintain the individual liberty, parental rights, and free market principles of the citizens and businesses of Nebraska during a state of emergency declared by the Governor, or anytime thereafter, it is the right of each citizen, the right of parents with respect to their dependents, and the right of each business with respect to its employees, to accept or decline a mandatory vaccination directive by the Nebraska state government. Declining a mandatory vaccination directive will deliver no implication, penalty, litigation, or punishment by the state to the citizen, parent, or business.
Hearing 2/4; no further updates
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LB 643: Vaccination Individual Liberty Right
Nebraska
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Nevada
Every person has the inalienable right to bodily integrity, free from any threat or compulsion that the person accepts any medical intervention, including immunization. No person may be discriminated against for refusal to accept an unwanted medical intervention, including immunization.
Introduced 3/4
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HB 220: Establishing medical freedom in immunizations
New Hampshire
This bill prohibits State, county, and local government entities, as well as public and private childcare centers, preschool programs, elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education, from mandating that any person be immunized against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The restriction will not apply to health care workers or individuals employed by or providing services at a licensed health care facility who are required to receive the immunization as a condition of working with a medically-vulnerable population.
Introduced 12/10/2020
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AB 5096: An act concerning vaccinations
New Jersey
Every person, whether a minor or an adult, has the right of bodily integrity and the freedom to assert that right. At all times, including during a declared public health emergency, a person shall not be discriminated against or denied public accommodation, housing accommodation,employment, government services or any other services offered to the general public or otherwise penalized for the assertion of the right of bodily integrity.
Referred to committee, 2/18
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SB 408: Right To Bodily Integrity
New Mexico
No vaccine used for the purposes of inducing immunity against coronavirus in humans in this state shall be made a mandatory immunization. No person shall be required to receive such vaccine unless such individual chooses to be vaccinated.
Referred to committee, 2/18
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A4269: Mandatory Immunization Against the Coronavirus
New York
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It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, association or corporation, either for himself, herself or itself, or in a representative or fiduciary capacity, to require any employee, volunteer or applicant for employment, as a condition of employment, volunteer service or continued employment, to submit to or take any vaccination, injection, shot or medication for any virus, disease or condition fetal cells were used in the development of such vaccine or medicine and such practice is a violation of a sincerely held religious belief of the employee, volunteer or applicant for employment…. No employee, volunteer or applicant for employment shall be terminated, disciplined or refused employment based upon a refusal to submit to or take any vaccination, injection, shot or medication where fetal cells were used in the development of the vaccine or medicine and such practice is a violation of a sincerely held religious beliefs of such person.
Introduced 2/2
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SB 846: Conditions of employment
Oklahoma
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An Act providing for the right of an employee or prospective employee to refuse to participate in an invasive medical test or vaccination required by an employer.
Referred to committee, 1/26
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HB262
Pennsylvania
It shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer … to refuse to hire, or to discharge, penalize or discriminate against any individual, to include, but not be limited to, any health care professional, with respect to compensation or the terms, conditions or privileges of employment on the basis of the individual's vaccination history or the refusal of an individual to receive a vaccine or to provide proof of vaccination and/or immunity.
Referred to committee, 2/26
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H 5989: Mandatory Vaccination Agreement Prohibited
Rhode Island
Any vaccination offered by the Department of Health and Environmental Control as part of any mass immunization project to protect against infectious disease, or to prevent the spread of a pandemic or a contagious or possibly contagious disease, may be provided only to those individuals who agree to the vaccination
Referred to committee, 1/12
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H 3217: Infectious or Contageous Disease Vaccination
No person in this State may be compelled to undergo vaccination to prevent coronavirus disease 2019, commonly referred to as COVID-19. If a person chooses not to undergo vaccination, then the person s employer may not subject the person to an adverse employment action, including, but not limited to, a termination, suspension, involuntary reassignment, or demotion.
Referred to committee, 1/12
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HS 177: Voluntary Vaccinations
South Carolina
No person may, as a result of refusing to accept a medical intervention, including any vaccination, be subjected to discrimination or retaliation with respect to association, education, employment, housing, property rights, public accommodations, or public services. Nothing in this section precludes an employer from taking steps to screen any person entering the workplace, in order to determine whether the person has an infectious, contagious, or possibly contagious disease, if the screening is job-related and consistent with business necessity.
Passed out of committee, 2/11
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HB 1159: Prohibit interference with the right to bodily integrity
South Dakota
An employer shall not: (1) Require an employee to receive an immunization or vaccination for COVID-19 against the will of the employee as a condition of maintaining employment; or
Referred to committee, 2/22
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S 1308: Vaccination as a Condition of Employment
Creates a civil cause of action for discrimination based on Coronavirus vaccine status.
Introduced 2/8 and 2/11
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S 564/H 1269
Tennessee
An employer commits an unlawful employment practice if the employer fails or refuses to hire, discharges, or otherwise discriminates against an individual with respect to the compensation or the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the individual has not received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Referred to committee, 3/9
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H 1687: Unlawful Employment Practices Relating to Vaccine
Texas
This bill prohibits a governmental entity from requiring that an individual receive a vaccine for COVID-19.
Passed House, 2/28; Senate, 3/5
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H 308: Coronavirus Vaccine
Utah
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the State of Vermont; its agencies, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and designees; and all other employers, businesses, nonprofit organizations, institutions, facilities, schools, churches and other places of worship, travel carriers, licensing authorities, and other individuals and public and private and entities shall not deny, restrict, infringe upon, or impose conditions on an individual's rights to bodily autonomy, to make the individual's own health care decisions, and to be free to accept or refuse any health or medical intervention, testing, treatment, or vaccine based on the individual's own religious, conscientious, or personal beliefs.
Introduced 2/18
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H 283: Health Care Decision Making
Vermont
Expressing the sense of the General Assembly that any vaccination for the COVID-19 virus shall be voluntary within the Commonwealth of Virginia and that it fully supports the practice of medical informed consent.
Failed
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HJR 573: COVID-19 Vaccination
Virginia
The government or its designees, or other employers, businesses, nonprofits, institutions, churches, travel carriers, or other public or private entities, may not infringe upon, put conditions on, restrict, or take away a person's ability to fully participate in necessary and important services and lifestyle choices and preferences including, but not limited to, employment, education, religion, travel, sports, hobbies, entertainment, and lifestyle preferences, based on a person choosing to decline health-related measures as described in subsection (1) of this section.
Referred to committee, 1/19
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H 1305: Right to Refuse Vaccines and Health Related Measures
No law, rule, or order, by any government or private entity, shall require the receipt of any epidemic or pandemic vaccines, including vaccines used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, for any reason, including, but not limited to, as a condition of employment, school attendance, professional licensure, educational certification or degree, admittance to any place of business or entertainment, or access to any mode of transportation, if the following have not been met
Referred to committee, 1/11
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H 1065: Epidemic or Pandemic Vaccines
No employer, school or university, transportation provider, or any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or amusement may require, directly or indirectly, any person to submit to vaccination or immunization for COVID-19.
Introduced 1/12
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S 5144: Right to Decline an Immunization or Vaccination
Washington
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The Legislature of the state of Wyoming memorializes a COVID-19 Vaccine Bill of Rights for the purposes of defending the constitutional liberties of its citizens, promoting sound science and outlining a framework of best practices for state authorities and federal regulators to develop in this evolving phase of experimental vaccine administration and implementation.
Failed
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HJR 16: Vaccine Bill of Rights
Wyoming
Information accurate as of 3/11/2021
No legislation being considered at this time
a guide to pending state legislation
COVID vaccination requirements and employment:
Design by Chris Nicholls