TX Governor Greg Abbott: Today, I signed into law Senate Bill 7, which bans private employer COVID vaccine mandates in our state.

TX Governor Greg Abbott via X (aka Twitter) ^ | Nov 10, 2023 | Governor Greg Abbott

[Texas Fossil]

Texas will always protect personal liberties.

Today, I signed into law Senate Bill 7, which bans private employer COVID vaccine mandates in our state.

Thank you to Sen. @mayes_middleton and Rep. @leachfortexas

for their leadership to get this done during Special Session #3.

---

Bill Title: Relating to prohibiting a private employer from adopting or enforcing certain COVID-19 vaccine mandates; authorizing an administrative penalty.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 69-1)

Status: (Passed) 2023-11-10 - Effective on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 6, 2024 [SB7 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB7-Enrolled.html

	S.B. No. 7

 

AN ACT

 

relating to prohibiting a private employer from adopting or

 

enforcing certain COVID-19 vaccine mandates; authorizing an

 

administrative penalty.

 

       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 

       SECTION 1.  Subtitle D, Title 2, Health and Safety Code, is

 

amended by adding Chapter 81D to read as follows:

 

CHAPTER 81D. PROHIBITED CORONAVIRUS VACCINE MANDATES BY PRIVATE

 

EMPLOYER

 

       Sec. 81D.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

 

             (1)  "Adverse action" means an action taken by an

 

employer that a reasonable person would consider was for the

 

purpose of punishing, alienating, or otherwise adversely affecting

 

an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for

 

a contract position.

 

             (2)  "Commission" means the Texas Workforce

 

Commission.

 

             (3)  "Contractor" means a person who undertakes

 

specific work for an employer in exchange for a benefit without

 

submitting to the control of the employer over the manner, methods,

 

or details of the work.

 

             (4)  "COVID-19" means the 2019 novel coronavirus

 

disease and any variants of the disease.

 

             (5)  "Employer" means a person, other than a

 

governmental entity, who employs one or more employees.

 

       Sec. 81D.002.  EMPLOYER CORONAVIRUS VACCINE MANDATES

 

PROHIBITED. 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.

 

       Sec. 81D.003.  PROHIBITED ADVERSE ACTION BY EMPLOYER. 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.

 

       Sec. 81D.0035.  ADVERSE ACTION EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN HEALTH

 

CARE FACILITIES, HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS, AND PHYSICIANS. (a) In

 

this section:

 

             (1)  "Health care facility" means a facility that is a

 

provider of services, as defined by Section 1861, Social Security

 

Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1395x).

 

             (2)  "Health care provider" and "physician" have the

 

meanings assigned by Section 74.001, Civil Practice and Remedies

 

Code.

 

       (b)  A health care facility, health care provider, or

 

physician may establish and enforce a reasonable policy that

 

includes requiring the use of protective medical equipment by an

 

individual who is an employee or contractor of the facility,

 

provider, or physician and who is not vaccinated against COVID-19

 

based on the level of risk the individual presents to patients from

 

the individual's routine and direct exposure to patients.

 

       (c)  Establishing or enforcing a policy described by

 

Subsection (b) is not considered an adverse action under this

 

chapter.

 

       Sec. 81D.004.  COMPLAINT; INVESTIGATION. (a) An employee,

 

contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract

 

position against whom an employer took an adverse action in

 

violation of this chapter may file a complaint with the commission

 

in the form and manner prescribed by commission rules.

 

       (b)  A complaint filed with the commission must include the

 

following information:

 

             (1)  the name of the complainant;

 

             (2)  the name of the employer; and

 

             (3)  the nature and description of any alleged adverse

 

action the employer took against the complainant.

 

       (c)  On receipt of a complaint under Subsection (a), the

 

commission shall conduct an investigation to determine whether the

 

employer took an adverse action against the complainant because of

 

the complainant's refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.  For a

 

complaint against a health care facility, health care provider, or

 

physician, the commission shall consult with the department in

 

determining if a policy adopted under Section 81D.0035 was

 

reasonable.

 

       Sec. 81D.005.  INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. (a)  On receipt of a

 

complaint filed under Section 81D.004, the commission may request

 

that the attorney general bring an action for injunctive relief

 

against the employer to prevent further violations of this chapter

 

by the employer.  The action must be filed in a district court in:

 

             (1)  Travis County; or

 

             (2)  the county in which the alleged adverse action

 

occurred.

 

       (b)  In an injunction issued under Subsection (a), a court

 

may include reasonable requirements to prevent further violations

 

of this chapter.

 

       Sec. 81D.006.  ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY. (a)  The commission

 

shall impose on an employer who violates this chapter an

 

administrative penalty in an amount equal to $50,000 for each

 

violation, unless the employer, as applicable:

 

             (1)  hires the applicant for employment or offers a

 

contract to the applicant for a contract position; or

 

             (2)  reinstates the employee or contractor and provides

 

the employee or contractor with back pay from the date the employer

 

took the adverse action and makes every reasonable effort to

 

reverse the effects of the adverse action, including reestablishing

 

employee benefits for which the employee or contractor otherwise

 

would have been eligible if the adverse action had not been taken.

 

       (b)  If, following an investigation under Section 81D.004,

 

the commission determines that the employer violated this chapter,

 

the commission may recover from the employer reasonable

 

investigative costs incurred by the commission in conducting the

 

investigation, regardless of whether the employer has taken an

 

action described by Subsection (a)(1) or (2).

 

       Sec. 81D.007.  RULES. The commission shall adopt rules as

 

necessary to implement and enforce this chapter.

 

       SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only

 

to conduct or an adverse action that occurs on or after the

 

effective date of this Act.

 

       SECTION 3.  If any provision of this Act or its application

 

to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does

 

not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be

 

given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to

 

this end the provisions of this Act are declared severable.

 

       SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives

 

a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as

 

provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this

 

Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this

 

Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the

 

legislative session.

   

	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House

 

       I hereby certify that S.B. No. 7 passed the Senate on October

 

12, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 19, Nays 12; and that the

 

Senate concurred in House amendments on October 31, 2023, by the

 

following vote: Yeas 17, Nays 11.

 

	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate

 

       I hereby certify that S.B. No. 7 passed the House, with

 

amendments, on October 26, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 91,

 

Nays 54, one present not voting.

 

	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House

   

Approved:

   

______________________________ 

 

            Date

     

______________________________ 

 

          Governor

[imabadboy99]

is this sarcasm?

[jz638]

What is the hold up, per Gov Abbott?

IIRC, Abbott can't pardon directly, he has to get a recommendation from the Bureau of Pardons or something like that, and while I'm not sure if it had any bearing on the process in the intervening months, there has been a bit of a civil war within the Texas GOP.

Perry, who never should have been charged in the first place gets to suffer, and the travis county DA Garza can probably slow walk and obstruct the process as further extrajudicial punishment.

[lizma2]

“Should have been passed 3 years ago”

I’m a doc and have been paying attention to all the data I could find.

By April 2020 I started to see we were being scammed.

By then we had proof the HCQ and Ivermectin worked and that kids had very few ACE-2 receptors that the virus needed to enter a cell but the jab companies couldn’t get lawsuit protection unless our government and media lied.

Lord help us.

[HamiltonJay]

Yes it was clear by mid April 2020 they were lying, catastrophic projections were not remotely reality by that point. Everything they did after that were lies.

[Obadiah]

Should have been passed 3 years ago

Not only that, but if the law specifically and only speaks to Covid-19, it's pretty much worthless. They'll just call the next one something else.

[HamiltonJay]

Yep

[RWGinger]

What other “mandated vaccines” do you object to?
If another dangerous untested shot gets mandated won’t be hard to get stop

[ChessExpert]

Next up, emancipation of Black slaves.

[HIDEK6]

He’s fighting the last war.

[exDemMom]

I suppose you are not aware of the debacle in NY where Covid patients were sent to nursing homes, leading to the deaths of many elderly people? NY had one of the highest death tolls early on in the pandemic because elderly people were needlessly exposed.

How is an elderly person in a nursing home supposed to avoid being exposed if the workers there refuse to get vaccinated? If the workers there are infected and spreading disease to every person they encounter?

You are putting blame on the victims.

Yes, vaccines decrease transmission, hospitalization, and death. There is a reason vaccines are considered one of the most successful public health measures ever invented. Stop helping those who want people to die by repeating their lies.

[grey_whiskers]

Oh, gee. While Texas public health officials have been out there educating people and trying to get this pandemic under control

[grey_whiskers]

Any business that serves vulnerable people or that deals with the public absolutely SHOULD be able to mandate that its staff be vaccinated. I guess those old people in nursing homes just don’t matter, though, do they?

I'm glad to hear you support the execution of those five Dem governors for avoiding the dedicated US Navy hospital ships and putting the COVID patients into nursing homes, thereby committing mass murder.

Isn't that right, exDemMom?

Dingbat.

[djstex]

Thanks Jane for the ping!
Very late to repond!
WOOHOO For TEXAS!
Thanks for the Good Texas News!
Love TEXAS!

[Allegra]

Oh, gee. While Texas public health officials have been out there educating people and trying to get this pandemic under control, here comes an absolutely idiotic measure from the governor.

Goodness, you sure seem to have your mask in a bunch because of freedom. Don’t like that concept?

[ronnie raygun]

So what took so long? ultimately there are many roving vax nazis in high places through out the system still

[CodeToad]

“There are reasons for mandatory vaccinations. “

Politicians are bribed by drug companies.

[CodeToad]

“Any business that serves vulnerable people or that deals with the public absolutely SHOULD be able to mandate that its staff be vaccinated.”

Why? The covid vaccines have proven not to be effective and actually kill people.

Who are you to tell me what to put in my body???

[CodeToad]

[grey_whiskers]

Ever notice how everyone is ignoring your talking points?

T Better stand on a chair again about how you know better than reality, because you had biology, physics, genetics, several kinds of chemistry, and calculus.

Also how you became an influenza expert by sitting next to a nurse.

I Got It From Agnes

Dingbat.

[Texas Fossil]

Well the last time I check in the book, we win. But the USA is not mentioned.