Photo: Joe Raedle
A number of Florida Democrats in Congress have introduced the LOCAL HEALTH Act.
"This bill affirms the right of public and private employers, including schools, to implement measures that mitigate COVID-19 threats without state interference."
South Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz says it would block any state governor's bans on mask and vaccine mandates.
The bills full name is the Let Our Cities and Local businesses Help Employees Achieve Long-Term Health Act.
West Palm Beach Democrat Lois Frankel is the head sponsor of the bill which she says "protects us from the dangerous overreach by states that we've been seeing across the country."
The announcement comes ahead of a special Legislative session later this month, during which the governor wants state lawmakers to ensure that employees are not forced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to keep their jobs.
Central Florida Congressman Darren Soto says that's why the federal legislation is needed.
"This is our direct response to this ridiculous special session where helping COVID-19 continue to ravage our state seems to be the primary goal."
The federal agency OSHA announced on Thursday a new rule that will force companies with at least 100 employees to require those workers get vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo weekly testing.
Florida is joining several other states in filing suit against the Biden administration over that order, which goes into effect January 4.
Former Governor Charlie Crist, who's running for that job again, also took part in the Friday morning Zoom conference. The St. Petersburg Congressman blasted Gov. Ron DeSantis, while defending the federal rule.
"I applaud what OSHA is doing. I applaud what President Biden is doing because we have a governor who won't do his job."
The Democrats, which included some House members from Georgia and Texas, say the LOCAL HEALTH Act is aimed at allowing local governments, agencies and private businesses to implement public health and safety measures recommended by the CDC, despite any state-instituted bans.
The lawmakers heard from Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia who instituted a vaccine mandate upon city employees. People who refuse to get the COVID shots must undergo weekly testing, similar to how the OSHA rule is written up.
Gov. DeSantis' office has reacted to the new bill with the following statement:
Governor DeSantis will continue protecting Floridians’ individual rights. Everyone in Florida is free to wear a mask if they choose to do so. Likewise, vaccines are freely available everywhere in our state. But there is no justification for mandates that infringe upon Floridians’ medical privacy and constitutional rights.
From the perspective of public health, these mandates do not make any sense. Fully vaccinated people can still get and transmit COVID, per the CDC, so vaccine passports do not stop the spread. Likewise, mask mandates have been tried all over the world, including in some parts of Florida last year, and the existence of a mask mandate in a given location has not correlated with lower COVID prevalence and transmission in that location.
Considering that there is no public health justification for these infringements on individual rights, these proposals are not about science – they’re about control. By and large, Floridians understand this and do not support these mandates.
Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, Florida will remain a free state, not a biomedical security state.