{"id":81770,"date":"2021-08-31T17:15:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T21:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=81770"},"modified":"2021-08-31T17:16:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T21:16:57","slug":"huge-covid-vax-development-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=81770","title":{"rendered":"HUGE Covid Vax Development in California<\/b>"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Democrats drop plan to require COVID vaccines to work, go to most public places<\/strong><\/h1>\n

By Hannah Wiley
\nThe Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

California Democrats are postponing a plan to require people to prove they\u2019re fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter indoor businesses and require workers to either get the shots or be regularly tested.<\/p>\n

Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, confirmed to The Sacramento Bee on Monday that the idea is dead for 2021. She was among the lawmakers who floated language for the concept last week, but did not formally introduce legislation to <\/a>carry it out.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers had less than two weeks to consider the bill in committee hearings and approve it by a two-thirds majority during floor votes before an end-of-session Sept. 10 deadline.<\/p>\n

Wicks acknowledged last week that there would be staunch opposition to the measure, and that she wasn\u2019t sure whether the coalition of lawmakers supporting the process wanted to pursue the idea this year or in January, when the Legislature returns from a break. The proposal would have gone immediately into effect upon the governor\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

Wicks said on Monday she will continue working with all stakeholders to develop the \u201cstrongest possible policy\u201d in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, thousands of Californians are newly affected by this virus \u2013 and we have a collective responsibility to do all we can to protect each and every one of them,\u201d Wicks said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s on all of us to protect our kids who can\u2019t get vaccinated, to keep our neighbors from being the newest patients in the ICU, to make sure no family has to plan a funeral that never needed to happen. We all want these tragic times to be over, and to see the pandemic behind us \u2014 and the fact is that vaccinations are our pathway there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group of Democratic legislators drafting the proposal \u2014 Sens. Richard Pan, Scott Wiener and Josh Newman and Assembly members Wicks, Akilah Weber and Evan Low \u2014 had been speaking with lawyers, legislative counsel and other experts on language before making a decision.<\/p>\n

Representatives for SEIU, the California Labor Federation, the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Retailers Association also said in a press release that they were committed to working on a solution.<\/p>\n

Politically risky in Gov. Gavin Newsom recall<\/h3>\n

Three protests against the plan were already scheduled to take place at the Capitol over the next week and a half. Anti-vaccine groups and Republicans in the Legislature had vowed to fight the measure<\/a>, which they likened to government overreach and forced vaccination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will fight in every way I can to stop … (the) bill requiring vaccination papers to enter a place of business,\u201d Rocklin Assemblyman and GOP gubernatorial candidate Kevin Kiley wrote in an Aug. 26 tweet<\/a>, referring to the process by which the language would have been added to the existing bill. \u201cThis is not who we are as a state or a country. Enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"AP21235660745252.jpg\" <\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>
A group of about 30 people gathered along Ridge Road in front of Nevada Union High School in Grass Valley on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, protesting a decision by school officials requiring students to test for COVID-19 or provide their vaccination status following a school outbreak. Elias Funez The (Grass Valley) Union via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While other states like Texas and Florida have shunned and outlawed COVID-19 rules, Wicks\u2019 plan would have created the strongest statewide vaccination requirements in the country. It was a politically risk move to consider sending the the proposal to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election on Sept. 14. He would have had until Oct. 10 to sign it.<\/p>\n

Newsom has had near unilateral authority over COVID-19 regulations since March 2020, when he ordered Californians to stay at home and businesses to shutter their doors. After more than a year of living under a mask mandate and capacity limits, Newsom lifted most of the rules in June and celebrated the state\u2019s low infection rate and widespread vaccine availability.<\/p>\n

Since then, the delta variant has clogged California\u2019s hospitals again and forced some cities to consider and begin implementing vaccine mandates for certain employees.<\/p>\n

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