The Alabama Legislature last month sought to combat President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates by passing legislation which broadened the interpretation of applicable exemptions to vaccination.
Senate Bill 9, sponsored by State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Daphne) and signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey, instructed businesses to “liberally construe” a request for vaccination exemption in favor of the employee.
The law created an avenue for workers to claim exemption from mandated COVID-19 vaccination for “medical reasons or because of sincerely held religious beliefs.” Republican leadership’s stated intentions in passing the legislation was to protect individuals’ rights to earn a living unencumbered by the federal government’s vaccination requirements.
While the legislature’s move to shield workers from Biden’s vaccine mandates faced influential opposition, perhaps most notably from the Business Council of Alabama (BCA), it was not enough to deter its efforts.
The legislature’s actions were praised by many among the Republican base. However, soon-to-be gubernatorial candidate Tim James suggested that the legislation did not go far enough in shielding workers from mandated vaccination.
In a Thursday interview with Huntsville radio host Michael Yaffee on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” James indicated that the legislature waited too long to act on the issue.
“As you know, the legislature was called into a special session long after this train had left the train station. Under pressure, they dealt with the mandates,” said James. “They passed a piece of legislation and it was signed by the governor that basically said that in Alabama you cannot force people to take the mandate – there are three exceptions. And the exceptions were: it’s against your religion, you have a medical condition, and the third is that you have had COVID.”
James advised that his team had conducted research which he claimed showed that a substantial amount of Alabamians were not covered by the legislation.
“[J]ust in the private sector, and it may not be perfect, but it’s very reasonable, we assessed that there were 500,000 Alabamians working in the private sector that have not taken the vaccine,” he added. “And, of course, they didn’t take it because they didn’t want it. So if you apply these exceptions, that totaled roughly around 200,000 people, meaning the legislation left 300,000 estimated people in the state of Alabama who were subject to this mandate.”
James went on to call into question the legislature’s courage and alleged it to have been “playing games” in passing the bill.
“In other words, they [workers] had three options: Either get fired… go take the vaccine against their will, or lie about it,” continued James. “That’s the legislation that was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor of Alabama, and they openly were telling people to either lie or live with it. And that is the exact problem. If you want to hone in exactly what’s wrong with Montgomery, it’s playing games. They don’t have the guts nor the courage to do what they ought to do.”
James will officially launch his challenge against Ivey for the Republican nomination for governor on January 12, 2021.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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