Columbus Partner Talks with Bloomberg Law About the Weakening GOP Vaccine Mandate Pushback

Bob Robenalt talked with Bloomberg Law regarding the flurry of litigation that led to courts blocking Biden’s vaccine rule for federal contractors and shot-or-testing rule for large employers. The latter effort is being abandoned by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, somewhat defusing the opposition among GOP-majority state legislatures.

“The wind is out of the sails in many states,” he said, attributing that not only to the court decisions blocking Biden’s federal action but a movement among employers toward voluntarily ending their vaccine mandates as the pandemic recedes.

“Because of that, there’s a lack of any kind of real urgency to push these through.”

In Ohio, for example, legislation to largely ban workplace vaccine mandates passed the state House in November before stalling in the Senate, thanks to business community opposition. The bill hasn’t shown signs of movement in 2022, said Bob.

“There’s always been a strong belief on the part of the business community that they do not want the federal government or the state government to tell them what to do in these cases, whether it’s to mandate or restricting them from mandating.”

Read the full article in Bloomberg Law (subscription required).