The Louisiana Legislature has rejected a bill that would have imposed civil liability on businesses and schools that require certain vaccines after powerful lobbying groups opposed it.
House Bill 87 by Rep. Mike Echols (R-Monroe) would have allowed this. Employees and students must receive COVID-19 or other vaccines under emergency use authorization to sue if injured as a result of vaccination.
Echols' bill failed by a narrow 51-50 margin, falling two votes short of approval. Echols said he intends to introduce the bill for another vote this Congress.
His proposal was opposed by the Louisiana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LABI), a powerful lobbying group representing business interests.
“LABI opposes HB 87 as anti-business and detrimental to the long-established purpose of national workers' compensation. [Worker’s compensation] This is the only remedy for employees who are injured on the job,” LABI lobbyist Jim Patterson wrote in a floor note to lawmakers. “HB 87 would break that foundation and create a new pipeline of lawsuits against Louisiana businesses. This bill would threaten current and future lawsuits at a time when state leaders are trying to encourage economic investment in the state. It sends the wrong message to employers.”
Echols, who consistently voted for LABI in the past term, said he doesn't think the bill is anti-business. He said he is not against vaccination but does not think people should be forced to get vaccinated.
“I would not have introduced this bill if I had thought it would hurt business,” Echols said in his closing remarks. “I just want to protect my people from orders.”
The proposal turned Democrats and pro-business Republicans into strange bedfellows.
“My rating for LABI is almost zero, so this is interesting for all of us,” said Rep. Mandy Landry, D-New Orleans.
The House signed another vaccine bill into law. House Bill 25 It was introduced by Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, to give immunity from lawsuits to companies that refuse to implement vaccine mandates for emergency use of approved vaccines.
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