House Republicans fail in vote to ban workplace COVID vaccine mandates

On Mar 17, 2022

It became clear Wednesday that Iowa House Republicans lack the votes for a pair of their key priorities this year — at least for the moment.

Twelve Republican lawmakers defected on a vote to consider an amendment that would have banned businesses from requiring workers to take the COVID-19 vaccine and capped damages in lawsuits involving commercial vehicles, causing it to fail 48-50. Every House Democrat voted no.

Republicans hold a 60-40 majority in the Iowa House.

Republican leaders deferred the bill, allowing them to consider it again in the future. But leadership was tight-lipped about the failure Wednesday afternoon. Melissa Deatsch, a spokesperson for House Speaker Pat Grassley, said Republicans thought they had 51 votes when they brought up the bill.

“Obviously that did not come to fruition,” she said.

Republican legislators have been wrangling over the language for weeks as they sought to find an agreement. The proposal’s language on both COVID vaccines and commercial vehicle lawsuits has been controversial within the party.

The proposal that lacked support Wednesday represented a scaled-down version of one banning businesses from asking about Iowans’ vaccination status. Several of the Republicans who voted no have urged the state to do more to protect Iowans’ “medical freedom.”

The Republicans who voted no were: Eddie Andrews of Johnston; Mark Cisneros of Muscatine; Tom Gerhold of Atkins; Stan Gustafson of Norwalk; Dustin Hite of New Sharon; Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids; Brian Lohse of Bondurant; Anne Osmundson of Volga; Sandy Salmon of Janesville; Jeff Shipley of Birmingham; Jon Thorup of Knoxville; Cherielynn Westrich of Ottumwa.

Several of the lawmakers declined to speak about their vote Wednesday evening.

Shipley said he voted no partially because he wanted the bill to go further against vaccination mandates. But he said he wasn’t a “hard no” on the bill overall and wants to look into some aspects of it further, such as the commercial lawsuit changes.

He said he believes his Republican colleagues had a variety of reasons for opposing the bill.

“There’s just a lot of opinions on a lot of different pieces,” he said. “I can’t speak to anyone else’s concerns, but I’d imagine my concerns are different than other people who voted no.”

Bill would have banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates at private businesses

The Republican amendment would have banned private employers from requiring employees to prove their COVID-19 vaccination status. Businesses that did would have faced fines of $50,000 — half of which would have gone directly to the employee. Schools, child-care centers and colleges would also have been prevented from requiring students to be vaccinated.

It would have also banned businesses, educational institutions or local governments from requiring masks, testing or “unfairly discriminating” against someone based on their vaccination status.

The bill would not have applied to businesses that are required by federal law to mandate COVID-19 vaccines.

The amendment is a scaled-down version of a bill Rep. Jon Jacobsen, R-Council Bluffs, proposed earlier in the year that was not specific to COVID-19. It’s the latest of several pieces of legislation Republicans have put forward over the past year to curb the effects of vaccination mandates. Jacobsen voted in favor of the proposal Wednesday.

The Legislature has previously voted to ban vaccine requirements for customers of businesses, widen medical and religious exemptions for employer COVID-19 vaccine requirements, and allow workers who are fired for not complying with a COVID-19 vaccination requirement to access unemployment benefits.

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday declined to comment on whether she’s fully supportive, saying she wants to see what the final version looks like.

“We’re taking a look at what those are — what are the impacts of the different versions that we’re seeing come across our desk?” she said.

Proposal also would have limited damages in commercial vehicle lawsuits

In lawsuits over commercial vehicle accidents that cause a serious injury or death, the bill also would have created a cap of $1 million per plaintiff for noneconomic damages, or money recovered for injuries such as pain, suffering and emotional distress.

The cap would have been adjusted for inflation every two years beginning in 2026. The cap would not have applied in cases where the driver of the vehicle was operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The bill would not have affected compensation for things like lost wages, medical expenses or costs.

The Des Moines Register’s Kim Norvell contributed to this report.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected], at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.