Federal COVID vaccine mandates-prohibition and remedies.

21LSO-1007
2021
STATE OF WYOMING
21LSO-1007
Numbered
2.0

SENATE FILE NO. SF1002

Federal COVID vaccine mandates-prohibition and remedies.

Sponsored by: Senator(s) Hicks, Dockstader, Driskill, Kinskey and Schuler and Representative(s) Greear, Olsen and Sommers

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to the protection of individual rights; providing legislative findings; prohibiting the enforcement of federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates as specified; providing definitions; authorizing litigation to protect the rights of Wyoming citizens as specified; providing an appropriation; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.

(a)

The legislature finds that:

(i)

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS
‑
CoV
‑
2) was first detected in China, leading to outbreaks of novel coronavirus disease (COVID
‑
19) that have now spread globally;

(ii)

Throughout 2020 and 2021, vaccines for COVID
‑
19 were authorized and approved by the federal food and drug administration;

(iii)

On September 9, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced that a federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule would be promulgated to require all businesses with one hundred (100) or more employees to ensure that every employee is either vaccinated for COVID
‑
19 or tested at least one (1) time every week for COVID
‑
19;

(iv)

As part of the plan announced by the President, the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, in collaboration with the centers for disease control and prevention, announced that current emergency regulations
requiring vaccinations for nursing home workers would be expanded to include hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings and home health agencies, among others, as a condition for participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The announcement indicated that these vaccine mandates will apply to both health care providers and suppliers that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs;

(v)

It is expected that, in the upcoming days or weeks, the federal occupational safety and health administration and the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services will promulgate emergency standards that will require Medicare and Medicaid health care workers and suppliers and all employers in Wyoming and the entire United States with one hundred (100) employees or more to ensure that all of their employees are either fully vaccinated for COVID
‑
19 or ensure that all of their employees are tested at least one (1) time per week for COVID
‑
19;

(vi)

Countless Wyoming citizens fear losing their livelihoods because they object to receiving a COVID
‑
19 vaccination for reasons of personal conscience, religious conviction or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID
‑
19;

(vii)

The decision to receive a vaccination is a personal decision and should not be subject to government intrusion or dictate;

(viii)

The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that the enumeration in the constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people;

(ix)

The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that the powers not delegated to the United States in the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people;

(x)

Article 1, section 38 of the Wyoming constitution provides that each competent adult has the right to make his or her own health care decisions;

(xi)

Through various legislative enactments, the legislature has established its primary role over immunizations, and all immunization laws and regulations in Wyoming are based on laws that the legislature has enacted;

(xii)

The legislature has established a process by which persons can submit religious exemptions to vaccination mandates, and the legislature can amend the exemption process from time to time as it sees fit;

(xiii)

By imposing a COVID
‑
19 vaccination mandate on the people and businesses of Wyoming, the federal government's actions constitute an abridgement of both the United States and the Wyoming Constitutions; and

(xiv)

The state of Wyoming as a sovereign entity cannot be compelled to enforce vaccination mandates from the federal government that might well be deemed an
unconstitutional exercise of the power of interpretation, to insist that the states are bound to provide means to carry into effect the duties of the federal government, nowhere delegated or entrusted to them by the constitution.

Section 2.

W.S. 9
‑
14
‑
103 is created to read:

9
‑
14
‑
103.

COVID
‑
19 vaccine mandate; prohibitions; penalties.

(a)

As used in this section:

(i)

"COVID
‑
19" means as defined by W.S. 1
‑
1
‑
141(a)(ii);

(ii)

"COVID
‑
19 vaccination" means any vaccine that is marketed to prevent COVID
‑
19 or any vaccine that is marketed to diminish or decrease the symptoms of COVID
‑
19;

(iii)

"Public entity" means as defined by W.S. 16
‑
6
‑
101(a)(viii).

(b)

No public entity shall enforce any mandate or standard of the federal government, whether emergency, temporary or permanent, that requires an employer to ensure or mandate that an employee shall receive a COVID
‑
19 vaccination until the date that a federal regulation, rule or standard takes legal effect that has the effect of requiring Wyoming employers to comply with the federal COVID
‑
19 vaccination mandate and any challenge to the federal regulation, rule or standard in the federal court system is exhausted.

The governor shall certify to the secretary of state any occurrence subject to this subsection.

(c)

Any person who knowingly and willfully violates subsection (b) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment not to exceed six (6) months, a fine not to exceed seven hundred and fifty dollars ($750.00), or both.

Section 3.

With the direction and consent of the governor, the attorney general's office may initiate or participate in litigation and take any other appropriate
action to challenge and resist federal government action related to COVID
‑
19 vaccination mandates that are contrary to the law and the rights of Wyoming citizens.

Section 4.

There is appropriated one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) from the general fund to the governor's office for purposes of funding the legal and other action authorized by section 3 of this act.

This appropriation shall be for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 2024.

This appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose and any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from this appropriation shall revert as provided by law on June 30, 2024.

It is the intent of the legislature that this appropriation not be included in the governor's standard budget for the immediately succeeding fiscal biennium.

Section 5
.

This act is effective
immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

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SF1002