BRANDON, Fla. (CN) — Declaring a new “freedom agenda,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed four bills into law on Thursday restricting mask and Covid-19 vaccine mandates in an effort to combat federal rules handed down by President Joe Biden.
Flanked by his newly appointed surgeon general and Republican legislators, DeSantis described the bills as a win for personal freedoms and workers’ choice.
“Mandate restrictions are tearing people down and today we lift people up,” the Republican governor and potential 2024 presidential candidate said at the press conference. “We are respecting people’s individual freedoms in this state.”
The bills were passed by the Republican-dominated Florida House and Senate the night previous in a special session called by DeSantis late last month.
The most comprehensive bill, dubbed the “big enchilada” by DeSantis, prohibits public employers from mandating Covid-19 vaccines and severely restricts private employers from mandating vaccines by requiring the businesses to offer a myriad of exemptions, including health concerns and a previous coronavirus infection.
The law includes health care workers, a rebuke to the recent emergency regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requiring Covid-19 vaccinations of all staff at facilities that participate in those programs.
“No nurse, no firefighter, no police officer, no trucker, no anybody, should lose their job because of these Covid jabs,” DeSantis said.
Employers who defy the law face a fine up to $50,000 per violation. Government entities would face an investigation by the Florida attorney general at a cost of $5 million. Local governments also cannot require masks in their buildings.
In addition, HB 1B gives the Department of Health authority over any coronavirus-related policies in schools and expressly prohibits school districts from requiring students to wear masks or receive Covid-19 vaccinations. Students and parents can sue school districts that violate the law.
Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo – a vocal critic of vaccine and mask mandates appointed by DeSantis in September – said the new policies for schools will be data-driven.
“There is no data that shows an improvement of health with these massive mandates for children,” Ladapo said. “Zip. There’s nothing. And it should stop. It’s completely divisive. It doesn’t help kids.”
Another measure prohibits Ladapo, or any of his state surgeon general successors, from ordering vaccinations in the event of an emergency.
“Important for sure, but Joe Ladapo was not going to forcibly stick anybody, so don’t worry about that,” DeSantis told those gathered at the press conference.
A companion bill provides a public records exemption for any medical history information of employees who file complaints against companies who do not abide by the new law.
DeSantis also signed HB 5B, which allows the state to develop its own workplace safety agency and withdraw from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The measure was passed as a response to the federal government's vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees, due to take effect in December. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, along with attorney generals from several other states, filed a lawsuit against that OSHA rule earlier this month. The Fifth Circuit stayed that order. Earlier this week, the lawsuits were consolidated to the Sixth Circuit.
Although the Florida Legislature is set to convene in January, DeSantis hastily called the special session in late October– days after suing the Biden administration over federal vaccine mandates and a week before announcing his gubernatorial reelection bid.
The legislation package is the strongest in the country to confront federal coronavirus policies and solidifies DeSantis’ profile as one of the most outspoken opponents of Biden.
The governor, a Trump acolyte widely considered a top presidential contender in 2024, has consistently attacked the president on his approach to the Covid-19 pandemic.
That partisanship flared during the governor’s press conference as supporters began chanting, “Let’s go Brandon,” a thinly veiled insult to Biden that trended during a NASCAR race in September.
When asked by a reporter if the governor’s choice to announce the passage of the anti-vaccine mandate laws in the unincorporated community of Brandon was intentional, DeSantis smiled.
“I think that Brandon, Florida, is a great American city,” he said.
Florida Democrats, who largely voted against the four bills, were quick to condemn the new legislation.
“What we have witnessed is the tyranny of a vocal minority,” state Representative Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said after the governor’s bill signing. “But they are a minority; a minority that stands against science, that stands against common sense, and it stands against reason.”
State Representative Angie Nixon questioned the governor’s commitment to public safety.
“If this was about safety, DeSantis would’ve called a special session to expand Medicaid and he would stop pushing disinformation,” the Jacksonville Democrat tweeted after the press conference. “This man only cares about one thing and that’s his unofficial bid for the presidency.”
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