Indiana bill to stop employers from forcing employees to get vaccines dies in committee

(The Center Square) – A bill that would prevent employers from forcing employees to get vaccines as a condition of employment died in committee following a public hearing on Jan. 13 that saw 65 people show up at the Statehouse to testify, the great majority of them in favor.

“Sen. Boots will not be hearing SB 74 in the Senate Committee on Pensions and Labor this legislative session,” an aide to the committee chairman, Sen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, told The Center Square in an email on Friday.

SB 74 was introduced by Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, and was the result of a strong push by a group called Hoosiers for Medical Liberty.

Ashely Grogg, a registered nurse who founded the organization last year, said Boots called her earlier in the week and told her that it’s “not worth” bringing the bill back before the committee only to have it die.

But she says she’s sure what happened, as the bill appears to have the support of the majority of the members of the committee, and Boots himself is one of the authors of the bill.

“We deserve to have a vote. He doesn’t want to go on record and deny this bill. He knows how mad you all are,” Grogg told followers on Facebook on Wednesday.

She’s calling for people who support the bill to rally at the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. to keep the pressure on legislators.

“It’s not dead until I have no more options,” she said Friday.

SB 74 says an employer may not require, as a condition of employment, that an employee or prospective employee receive any vaccine and may not deny compensation, benefits or a promotion to an employee who opts to not get a vaccine.

The bill carves out a new vaccine exemption for “conscience” – allowing an employee or prospective employee to refuse an employer-mandated vaccine if it would go against his or her conscience.

It also reiterates anyone can claim a medical exemption or a religious exemption to an employer-mandated vaccine.

Grogg says SB 74 is needed because employers have sometimes required proof, in the form of a letter from clergy or something similar, and have also been known to find ways of firing employees who try to claim a medical or religious exemption.

SB 74 has a strong enforcement mechanism – allowing people who have been denied a job or promotion because of a refusal to get vaccines to sue for actual damages, punitive damages and court costs and attorney’s fees.

And it may be this provision that drew the most ire from the business community.

The Chamber of Commerce testified in opposition to the bill. It is also opposed by the health care industry, including by lobbying groups representing doctors and hospitals.

But Grogg says legislators need to be listening to the people.

“They are not elected to represent big business. Period,” she told The Center Square. “They are elected to represent the people.”

In addition to Kruse and Boots, the bill is authored by Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

It also has six co-authors: Sen. Blake Doriot (R-Syracuse), Sen. Mike Gaskill (R-Pendleton), Sen. Michael Young (R-Indianapolis), Sen. David Niezgodski (D-South Bend), Sen. James Tomes (R-Wadesville) and Sen. Andy Zay (R-Huntington).

More than 2,000 people have signed a petition supporting the bill, and organizations supporting it include the Indiana Family Institute, the Indiana Health Care Choice Coalition and the Coalition of Central Indiana Tea Parties.

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