It’s all about the loopholes. COVID-19 vaccine mandates are a growing issue in the Republican primary in Texas despite two separate laws that supposedly protect Texans from being forced to choose between their career or getting vaccinated.
Republicans in the Texas legislature struggled but ultimately passed SB29 and SB7, which are being marketed by some lawmakers as the end of COVID vaccine mandates in the state. But in reality, the language of these two bills seems to allow for rampant overreach and emboldens those who want to impose these vaccines on unwilling participants.
Breaking Down The Bills
Texas SB29, effective Sept. 1, 2023, enshrined:
- A governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring a person to wear a face mask or other face covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- a governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring a person to be vaccinated against COVID-19
- a governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring the closure of a private business, public school, open-enrollment charter school, or private school to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
While this may sound like the Texas government isn’t allowed to mandate the COVID vaccine, it in fact gave the state the authority to do just that. Special provisions inside SB29 allow for compulsory masks, PPE gear and vaccines for certain state-controlled entities. It applies to state-supported living centers, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or Texas Juvenile Justice Department facilities, jails, government-owned hospitals, health care facilities and university-affiliated hospitals and clinics.
Texas SB7, effective Feb. 6, 2024, states:
- An employer may not adopt or enforce a mandate requiring an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment or a contract position.
- An employer may not take an adverse action against an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position for a refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Similar to SB29, SB7 allows for some pretty significant exceptions, giving private companies the ability to discriminate against future and current employees based on their vaccine status. For example, any private healthcare facility, provider or physician can still mandate protective medical equipment for an employee or contractor who is not vaccinated.
Texas-2023-SB7-Enrolled Screenshot
Rep. Brian Harrison told the Daily Caller that Texas had the chance to pass a clean bill banning vaccine mandates that would have closed the loopholes and protected Texas students. He blamed the current Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Dade Phelan, and Texas House parliamentarian Hugh Brady, former President Barack Obama’s White House general counsel, for allowing Democrats to block his amendment to SB7.
“The Texas legislature, because of the Texas House leadership and our Democrat parliamentarian, were prevented from protecting students. One-hundred percent of the fault of this is laid at the feet of the liberal failed leadership of the Texas House and our Democrat parliamentarian. They could have done two things: 1. They should have passed the Texas COVID Vaccine Freedom Act. They killed the act for two years. 2. Or they could have accepted my amendment to explicitly protect students as a part of SB7,” Harrison said. (ROOKE: Montana Child Trafficking Story Exposes GOP Weakness In Protecting American Children)
“We were prevented from putting that amendment on because of Speaker Phelan and the Barack Obama lawyer who controls the State House. There is no state prohibition on the requiring of COVID vaccinations for private universities, medical schools, or nursing schools in Texas,” he added.
🚨Speaker Dade Phelan and his Democrat parliamentarian just decided to KEEP #COVID VACCINE MANDATES in Texas… for college students, nursing students, and medical students. Unbelievable!
Why does he want to force COVID vaccines on students?
Watch!👇 #txlege pic.twitter.com/oq5S6xduT5
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) October 25, 2023
Harrison also told the Daily Caller that Phelan allowed so-called Republicans and Democrats to control major committees in the state House, including the Texas House Calendars Committee. He said the committee is responsible for preventing a bill that would have protected Texas students from getting to the House floor for a full vote.
“It was the Calendars Committee that blocked the Texas COVID Vaccine Freedom Act from getting to the floor. They intentionally killed that bill with knowledge, foresight and malice. They chose to protect COVID vaccine mandates by killing the act because they did not let it get to the floor,” Harrison said. “If they had let that bill get on the floor during the regular session in early 2023, it would have passed, and there would have been zero, ZERO, COVID vaccine mandates in Texas.”
Dr. Mary Bowden told the Daily Caller that she has heard from several Texas residents who have been forced to take the vaccine or lose their job or ability to finish their education even after SB7 and SB29 were signed into law.
“COVID shot mandates started in Texas, and despite a law in place banning mandates, I continue to hear from citizens being forced to give up their right to bodily autonomy to stay employed or continue their education,” Bowden said.
Despite the good intentions, the end result of SB29 and SB7 means that some Texans are still required to show proof of vaccination or risk being barred from employment opportunities that vaccinated individuals are allowed to participate in. One of these includes volunteer programs for the Harris Healthcare system, which is located in Houston but is one of the largest in the country, according to its About Me page.
“We train the next generation of healthcare providers on the latest medical procedures and technological breakthroughs,” the hospital system’s website stated.
A man who did not want to identify himself publicly told the Daily Caller that he was shocked to find out that his college-aged child is still required to take the COVID vaccine in order to volunteer with Harris Health. He said that the student must volunteer with the hospital system as a requirement by the student’s Texas college to complete their degree program.
Ultimately, the student has to decide whether to live out lifelong professional dreams or get a vaccine that does not stop the spread of COVID-19. The hospital’s website openly admits to requiring participants to receive several vaccines, most notably two doses of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines or one dose of the J&J. There is no option for volunteers to receive an exemption for the vaccine.
John Perez, a candidate for Texas House District 133, which would include Houston, where Harris Health is located, said he’s heard personal accounts of vaccine requirements while running for office.
Perez said any claims that the Texas legislature banned all COVID vaccine mandates “is simply not the case.”
“On the campaign trail, I keep hearing incumbent State Reps, including my HD133 opponent [Rep. Mano DeAyala], boast about banning all COVID vaccine mandates this past legislative session. This is simply not the case,” Perez told the Daily Caller.
“We still have a vaccine mandate for college students. Our “Republican” Calendars Committee killed legislation that would have eliminated ALL COVID vaccine mandates. Why is our “conservative” Texas House fighting against personal medical freedom for college students?” Perez told the Daily Caller. (ROOKE: Biden’s Border Crisis Exposed America’s Dirty Foreign Agent Secret)
“We should also ensure anyone working on a committee that influences healthcare legislation is not receiving Big Pharma money. The government overreach into the personal medical freedom of all Texans has to stop,” Perez added.
David Covey, a Texas House candidate running against embattled Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, is also making the vaccines an issue for his opponent. He called the two bills proof that Texans were “failed” by Phelan and the Texas House.
“I was told (as were my neighbors and fellow constituents in HD-21) that the legislature ended vaccine mandates for Texans,” Covey told the Daily Caller. “Well, the watered-down bill the Texas legislature DID pass, omitted our sons and daughters (all college students), forcing them to abide by college vaccine mandates. These students provided the college religious exemptions, but the students were still told they could not graduate without the shots.”
“We see incumbents out on the campaign trail bragging they accomplished something that did not happen,” he said. “This is shameful. More must be done to protect students NOW, at the polls!” He promised to enact legislation to close the “loopholes” that allow these entities to enact the vaccine mandates if elected. (ROOKE: State Follows Blueprint To Legalize New Form Of Child Trafficking)
“No college students in America should be forced to take a COVID shot in order to enroll or graduate, especially here in Texas!” he added.
Texas state Sen. Bob Hall told the Daily Caller that the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is currently working on a ruling that would decide how Texans can proceed if a hospital system, like Harris Health, continues the practice of mandating the COVID vaccine. Hall said the legislature is waiting on a decision from Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton and the TWC to determine whether SB7 and SB29 have these loopholes or if this is a case where the Texas hospital systems are breaking the law by requiring the COVID vaccine.
Officials who spoke to the Daily Caller anticipate Texas’ March 5 primary election to be a referendum on the lack of individual freedoms protected by the Texas legislature, with COVID vaccine mandates continuing to be front and center of the conversation. Several officials who did not want to speak on the record encouraged the Caller to drop this story about COVID vaccine mandates affecting the 2024 primaries.
The Daily Caller contacted Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan and Texas Rep. Mano DeAyala but did not receive a response.