Florida Legislature GOP leadership: It may be time to ditch OSHA

The Center Square
By John Haughey
October 22, 2021

(The Center Square) – Florida lawmakers will convene a November special session to ban private employer vaccine mandates at the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis before the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) can craft rules to implement private employer vaccine mandates at the behest of President Joe Biden.

The governor has a few other assignments for the Republican-dominated Legislature during the special session he called for Thursday: Ensure Florida’s ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ is “fortified;” disqualify employers that require worker vaccinations for state COVID-19 liability protections and allow those harmed by forced vaccinations to sue employers.

Lawmakers have their own ambitions. Ditch OSHA, for instance.

“In the coming days, we will review the governor’s specific proposals as well as discuss our own ideas for legislative action, including whether now is the time for Florida to withdraw from the Occupational Safety & Health Administration and establish our own state program,” said Senate President Willard Simpson, R-Trilby, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, in a joint statement.

“We believe that by doing so,” they continued, “Florida will have the ability to alleviate onerous federal regulations placed on employers and employees.”

Provisions in Section 18 of the OSHA Act of 1970 allow states to manage their own plans if approved by the agency under the act’s Section 6, which mandates states cannot adopt safety standards less strident than those imposed at the federal level.

“Any state which, at any time, desires to assume responsibility for development and enforcement of occupational safety and health standards … shall submit a state plan for the development of such standards and their enforcement,” it reads.

Under the law, the U.S. Secretary of Labor must approve proposed state plans if they meet eight conditions.

OSHA still requires states to send it all workplace safety data and an annual report. As with the 28 states where it regulates work-related safety, OSHA also monitors the 22 plans administered by state agencies.

President Joe Biden on Sept. 9 issued an order mandating companies with 100-plus employees require workers to be inoculated, or undergo weekly tests or be prohibited from worksites. OSHA will soon publish the rules. Once up, they’re effective in 90 days.

Lawmakers convene their 60-day 2022 legislative session on Jan. 11 but DeSantis wants a law on the books banning employer vaccine mandates by year’s end.

He said mask and vaccine mandate bans issued by executive order, agency directive and rules, such as Department of Health (DOH) Rule 64DER21-12, are best protected from litigation if encoded into legislation.

“We want to make sure individuals in the state of Florida have their rights protected,” DeSantis said. “Your right to earn a living should not be contingent on COVID shots.”

In their statement, Simpson and Sprowls said adopting a vaccine mandate ban on private businesses means freedom for workers — and private businesses.

“Across the country, hard-working employees and business owners trying to make a living are being threatened by the Biden administration’s reckless one-size-fits-all approach to COVID-19 vaccine mandates,” they said. “Meanwhile, the rights of parents are being trampled on. Florida will respond to this gross overreach by the federal government.”

At least 12 states have banned employers from requiring vaccine mandates as a condition of employment.

Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma and Tennessee limit their employer vaccine mandate ban to state and local governments. North Dakota, Arizona, Montana, New Hampshire, Texas and Florida extend them to private employers.

DeSantis last month issued an executive order adding $5,000 fines for each violation of Senate Bill 2006, which bans “vaccine passports” and mandates for government entities to private workplaces. Under that order, DOH has fined Leon County $3.57 million for “714 counts” of violating SB 2006.