Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state legislature worked during a special session to create four new state laws prohibiting COVID-19 mandates for employment or school attendance:  HB 1B covering COVID-19 Mandates; CS/HB 3B covering protection of private records; HB 5B establishing standards for Florida Occupational Safety and Health State Plan; and HB 7B, governing vaccinations during Public Health Emergencies [LINK].  The special legislative session was called and utilized due to approaching deadlines within the original Biden mandate as outlined by the Dept. of Labor.

Yesterday the state legislature presented the four bills to the governors office.  Today Governor DeSantis joined with state Attorney General Ashley Moody and traveled to Brandon, Florida, for a press conference where he signed the bills to protect the rights of workers & students in the state.  After the remarks and signing ceremony Governor DeSantis took questions from the media. WATCH (prompted):

Also at the event today, Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that Florida is challenging the CMS rule in court. Read more about that announcement HERE.

The basics of the four bills include:

✓ Private Employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates are prohibited.
‣ Employees can choose from numerous exemptions, including but not limited to, health or religious concerns; pregnancy or anticipated future pregnancy; and past recovery from COVID-19. 
‣ Employees can choose to opt for periodic testing or PPE as an exemption. 
‣ Employers must cover the costs of testing and PPE exemptions for employees. 
 
✓ Employers who violate these employee health protections will be fined.
‣ Small businesses (99 employees or less) will face $10,000 per employee violation.
‣ Medium and big businesses will face $50,000 per employee violation.
 
Government entities may not require COVID-19 vaccinations of anyone, including employees.
 
Educational institutions may not require students to be COVID-19 vaccinated.
 
School districts may not have school face mask policies.
 
School districts may not quarantine healthy students.
 
Students and parents may sue violating school districts and recover costs and attorney’s fees.
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