A special session on redistricting is happening, and it appears all but certain that there will not be a “call” for COVID-19-related legislation.
If that holds true, it means Gov. Kay Ivey will not allow the legislature to address the vaccination mandates that are currently forcing some people out of the workforce. The number of people impacted will grow every single day.
State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) appeared on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” on Friday and expressed that the easiest way to handle this issue is by following the lead of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
Orr believes that this issue doesn’t need a special session, a debate or another day to pass without being addressed. He says people are “very angry and very ticked off” by the Biden administration but believes the state can act.
Orr spoke clearly when he called for the “easiest, quickest and most direct” action with an executive order from Ivey to “put this in suspension for some time and see how far the federal law is allowed to go.”
Orr is 100% correct.
I have made my case repeatedly. Alabama provided businesses with liability protection from COVID-19-related lawsuits and ended the state’s enhanced unemployment benefits early to entice workers to return to work.
Opponents of those moves said that it put those workers in harm’s way. The governor and the Republican super-majority insisted they needed to return.
Now, the governor thinks that employers who think those same workers who were cajoled by her decisions back into the workforce without a vaccine in the past should be fired for working without one now.
If she doesn’t feel that way, then she needs to do something. Or maybe just let the legislature address it.
Listen:
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9AM weekdays on WVNN and on Talk 99.5 from 10AM to noon.