Democrats in California are bailing on a plan to require proof of coronavirus vaccine to enter indoor businesses or have negative test results.
Lawmakers had less than two weeks to address a bill in committee hearings and needed to approve it by a two-thirds majority floor vote before an end-of-session September 10 deadline.
The L.A. Times reported on the decision:
Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, confirmed to The Sacramento Bee on Monday that the idea is dead for 2021. She was among the lawmakers who floated language for the concept last week, but did not formally introduce legislation to carry it out.
Wicks acknowledged last week that there would be staunch opposition to the measure, and that she wasn’t sure whether the coalition of lawmakers supporting the process wanted to pursue the idea this year or in January, when the Legislature returns from a break. The proposal would have gone immediately into effect upon the governor’s signature.
“Every day, thousands of Californians are newly affected by this virus – and we have a collective responsibility to do all we can to protect each and every one of them,” Wicks said in a statement on Monday. “It’s on all of us to protect our kids who can’t get vaccinated, to keep our neighbors from being the newest patients in the ICU, to make sure no family has to plan a funeral that never needed to happen. We all want these tragic times to be over, and to see the pandemic behind us — and the fact is that vaccinations are our pathway there.”
The L.A. Times report continued:
Representatives for SEIU, the California Labor Federation, the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Retailers Association also said in a press release that they were committed to working on a solution.
Protests to oppose the bill were being planned and Republicans also vowed to fight the legislation.
“I will fight in every way I can to stop … (the) bill requiring vaccination papers to enter a place of business,” Rocklin Assemblyman and GOP gubernatorial candidate Kevin Kiley tweeted. “This is not who we are as a state or a country. Enough.”
I will fight in every way I can to stop AB 455, the “gut and amend” bill requiring vaccination papers to enter a place of business. This is not who we are as a state or a country. Enough.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) August 26, 2021
California requires health care workers to get a coronavirus vaccine. State workers also must get vaccines or take regular COVID-19 tests.
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