Idaho Legislators Prepare to Outlaw Vaccine Mandates
Idaho will join neighboring Montana and ban vaccine mandates. It’s a prediction. Some members of the State House of Representatives plan to be at the Capitol steps at noon, Wednesday the 15th. They hope to establish a quorum, which would bring the House back into session. I’m told the number is 35 but one source tells me 36. The latter would be 50 percent plus one. There are 70 members.
They wouldn’t need the approval of the Governor. The House didn’t adjourn last spring. It simply went on recess. If it comes back into session, the Senate will shortly need to follow.
They hope to establish a quorum, which would bring the House back into session. I’m told the number is 35 but one source tells me 36. The latter would be 50 percent plus one.
Leadership didn’t see a need for blocking workplace vaccine mandates when the state’s largest hospital groups established the policy. We were told it wasn’t wise for capitalists and conservatives to interfere with private business decisions. As we’ve mentioned before, during the spring of 2020, many Idaho businesses were labeled non-essential and closed by government. The hospitals are also receiving some of the COVID relief money sent to Idaho by the federal government and the National Guard is assisting the hospitals. Your tax money is eventually involved in all of this!
What changed over the last week? President Joe Biden issued an edict by fiat ordering businesses employing more than 100 people to vaccinate staff. Biden is a Democrat. Idaho is managed by Republicans.
And a competing set of donors rose up against the edict. The hospital association may spread a lot of campaign cash around Boise. Other private industries do the same. For instance, the Chamber of Commerce is a strong Capitol lobby. One of its regional offices told me yesterday a strongly worded letter was fired off to the Speaker of the House. There are some people who’ve suddenly got religion when it comes to blocking mandates. Let’s see if they try and carve out an exemption for hospitals.
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