employers; medical products; religious exemption

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Employers; Medical Products; Religious Exemption

This bill expands religious exemptions for medical products in workplaces and sets rules for how employers must handle these requests.

What This Bill Does

• Expands the religious exemption from taking medical products to include any type of medical product, not just vaccines.
• Prohibits employers from asking employees about the truth of their religious beliefs or treating them unfairly because they refuse a medical product.
• Requires employers to keep information about religious exemptions private and only use it for necessary purposes within the company.
• Creates a process where employees can file complaints with the Attorney General if they think their employer did not follow these rules correctly.
• Allows the Attorney General to fine employers up to $5,000 if they do not correct problems found during an investigation.

Who It Names or Affects

• Employers who have policies about medical products in the workplace.
• Employees who want a religious exemption from taking medical products at work.

Terms To Know

Medical product

A drug, device, biological product or any combination of these items used for health purposes.

Sincerely held religious beliefs

Beliefs that are deeply personal and important to someone's faith or moral values.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify when it will take effect.
• It is unclear how much this change will affect current practices in Arizona workplaces.
• There may be additional rules from federal law that employers still need to follow.

Official Summary Text

SB1016 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet

Assigned to
HHS�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� FOR
COMMITTEE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Fifty-Seventh
Legislature, Second Regular Session

FACT SHEET FOR
S.B. 1016

employers; medical
products; religious exemption

Purpose

Expands the
employer COVID-19 vaccine religious exemption to apply to any medical product. Prohibits
an employer from inquiring into the veracity of an employee's religious beliefs
or discriminating against an employee based on the employee's refusal to take a
medical product. Establishes a complaint process through the Attorney General's
(AG's) office and authorizes the AG to take corrective action and impose civil
penalties on noncompliant employers.

Background

Employers that
receive notice from an employee that taking the COVID-19 vaccination conflicts
with a sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance must provide the
employee a reasonable accommodation, unless the accommodation would pose an
undue hardship and more than a de minimus cost to the employer (
A.R.S.
� 23-206
).

A
medical
product
is a drug, device, biological product or product that is a
combination of drugs, devices and biological products (
42 USC � 287a
).

There is no
anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this
legislation.

Provisions

Medical
Product Religious Exemption

1.

Requires employers to allow employees that complete a religious
exemption form to opt out of any requirement that the employee take a medical
product.

2.

Prohibits
employers from:

a)

inquiring
into the veracity of an employee's religious beliefs, practices or observances
to the extent beyond what is allowed under federal law; and

b)

discriminating
against an employee regarding employment, wages or benefits based on the
employee's refusal to take a medical product.

3.

Removes an employer�s ability to deny a religious exemption on the basis
that providing a reasonable accommodation would impose more than a de minimis
cost.

4.

Outlines minimum requirements of an employer's medical product religious
exemption form.

5.

Requires employers to keep religious exemption claims confidential
within the organization, except to the extent necessary to process the
exemption, accommodation or other operational necessity.

6.

Allows an employer to create a database of religious exemption requests
only for internal use, unless otherwise required by law.

Complaints and
Violations

7.

Allows a terminated employee who was not offered or was denied a
religious exemption by their employer to file a complaint with the AG.

8.

Stipulates that employers are only required to apply religious
exemptions to the extent required under federal law.

9.

Requires the AG to investigate all complaints relating to medical
product religious exemptions.

10.

Requires AG investigations
of religious exemption complaints to determine whether:

a)

the
employer imposed a medical product mandate;

b)

the
employee was offered and submitted a proper exemption statement; and

c)

the
employee was terminated as a result of the employer's failure to allow a
religious exemption.

11.

Requires
the AG to notify employers that violate religious exemption requirements of
their violation and provide the employer the opportunity to correct the
noncompliance within 10 days.

12.

Directs the
AG to assess a civil penalty of $5,000 on any employer that does not correct noncompliance
with medical product religious exemption requirements within 10 days.

Miscellaneous

13.

Clarifies
that
sincerely held religious beliefs, practices or observances
includes
a sincerely held moral or ethical belief.

14.

Makes
conforming changes.

15.

Becomes
effective on the general effective date.

Prepared by Senate Research

January 15, 2026

MM/hk

Current Bill Text

SB1016 - 572R - S Ver

Senate Engrossed

employers; medical
products; religious exemption

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SENATE BILL 1016

AN
ACT

amending
section 23-206, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending title 23, chapter 2,
article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 23-207; relating
to employment practices.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section
1.
1. Section
23-206, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
23-206.

Employers; accommodations required for medical products;
religious exemption; form; definitions

A.
If an employer receives
notice from an employee that the employee's sincerely held religious beliefs,
practices or observances prevent the employee from taking
the
COVID-19 vaccination,

a medical product,
the
employer shall provide a reasonable accommodation unless the accommodation
would pose an undue hardship
and more than a de minimus cost to
the operation of the employer's business
.

B. An employer may not:

1. Inquire into the veracity of an
employee's religious beliefs, practices or observances to the extent beyond
what is allowed under federal law.

2. Discriminate against an employee
regarding employment, wages or benefits based on the employee's refusal to take
a medical product.

C. An employer shall allow an
employee to request a religious exemption from taking a medical product by
using a form that meets the following minimum requirements:

Religious
exemption from taking a medical product

Employee name����
__________________________________

Date of birth����
__________________________________

telePhone number�
__________________________________

Employer name����
__________________________________

Exemption
statement:

Pursuant to section
23-206, Arizona Revised Statutes, I hereby declare that I am requesting
an exemption from a medical product because of my sincerely held religious
beliefs.

employee statement
of sincerely held religious beliefs ______________________

Employee statement
of conflict between religious beliefs and the medical product ____________

Requested
accommodation and alternative accommodations _______________________

I declare under
penalty of perjury that the foregoing INFORMATION is true and correct.

Employee signature���
_______________________________

Date�����������������
_______________________________

Employee name (print)
_______________________________

NOTE: An employer may
not inquire into the veracity of the employee's sincerely held religious
beliefs, practices or observances to the extent beyond what is allowed under
federal law.

D. Any employer that receives a
request for a religious exemption pursuant to this section shall keep the
request and its contents confidential and may not share them within that
organization except to the extent necessary to process the request for
exemption, accommodation or other operational necessity.� Employers may
create a database of religious exemption requests for internal use only unless
otherwise required by law.

E. For the purposes of this section,
"sincerely held religious beliefs, practices or observances" includes
a sincerely held moral or ethical belief.
END_STATUTE

Sec.
2.
2. Title
23, chapter 2, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding
section 23-207, to read:

START_STATUTE
23-207.

Employers; complaints; religious exemptions; investigations;
noncompliance; civil penalty

A. An employee may file a complaint
with the attorney general if the employer did not offer the employee a form
that meets the requirements of section 23-206 or improperly applied or
denied the employee's religious exemption and the employee's employment was
terminated. An employer is required to apply the religious exemption
prescribed in section 23-206 only to the extent required under federal
law.

B. The attorney general shall
investigate all complaints received pursuant to subsection A of this
section. The investigation, at a minimum, shall determine whether
the employer imposed a medical product mandate, whether the employee was
offered and submitted a proper exemption statement pursuant to section 23-206
and whether the employee was terminated as a result of the employer not
providing the employee a religious exemption from taking the medical
product. If the attorney general finds that the religious exemption
was not offered or was improperly applied or denied and the employee's
employment was terminated, the attorney general shall notify the employer of
its determination and allow the employer the opportunity to correct the
noncompliance within ten days.� The attorney general shall assess a civil
penalty of $5,000 on any employer that does not correct the noncompliance
within the prescribed time frame.
END_STATUTE