(CN) — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed sweeping restrictions on Covid-19 safety measures into law late Friday following a whirlwind three-day special legislative session at the tail end of last month.
The restrictions, which affect the authority of schools, health officials and private businesses, have been met with pushback from leaders in those communities and are expected to be met with legal challenges.
Some of the restrictions under the new legislation include prohibiting businesses that do not receive federal funds from requiring employees to receive a Covid-19 vaccine or request proof of it. The rule also applies to government agencies and public schools.
Proof of a negative Covid-19 test, however, can be required by private businesses such as entertainment venues. And businesses at risk of losing federal money can continue to require vaccines after obtaining permission from the state comptroller’s office. State prisons and health care organizations that receive money from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are also exempt from the prohibition on vaccine mandates.
Employees who quit their jobs because of vaccine requirements will be allowed to collect unemployment benefits, something that will apply retroactively to those who have not yet found new employment.
An earlier version of the bill would have prevented private businesses from requiring masks, but after several business leaders and groups reached out to lawmakers opposing the legislation on the last day of the special session, that provision was removed.
Ford Motor Company was among those making its concerns known. The company has announced plans to open a $5.6 billion electric vehicle and battery factory in West Tennessee following another special session a week earlier in which legislators approved $884 million in incentives to bring the company to the state.
In text messages obtained by The Tennessean, the car maker told lawmakers that required mask wearing has been crucial for the company to continue operations throughout the pandemic.
In a letter to lawmakers, several business groups called the legislation an “unnecessary government intrusion into the operation of our businesses,” the Tennessee Journal reported.
Public schools and other government entities, however, may not require masks unless high rates of Covid-19 transmission are detected — at least 1,000 cases for every 100,000 residents in the past 14 days.
Doctors also voiced concerns of heightened risk of infection due to a part of the law forcing hospitals to allow the family of Covid-19 patients to stay with them while hospitalized.
Before signing the bill, Lee told reporters earlier this week the legislation needed to be changed to reflect its intent — that family visitation would be allowed only in end-of-life scenarios. The provision has now become law.
Lee declined to sign one bill, which grants the governor “exclusive jurisdiction to issue orders and directives regarding county health departments during a pandemic;” gives county mayors the authority to issue orders regarding the health and safety of county residents; and vests the state health commissioner with the exclusive authority to quarantine people or businesses for Covid-19 exposure.
In a statement late Friday, Lee said there is a need to address issues with the legislation in the upcoming session, though the bill became law without his signature.
“I have spoken with Lt. Gov. McNally and Speaker Sexton and am not signing this bill as it requires significant updates to account for the non-pandemic functions of public health departments,” Lee wrote. “We are committed to working together to address these changes during the regular session.”
During the marathon committee hearings that ended in the early morning hours of Oct. 30, a Saturday, lawmakers were split along party lines, with Republicans voicing opposition to what they called overreach by the federal government and Democrats voicing concerns over what they saw as state government overreach.
“We're regulating the detailed practices of 600,000-700,000 businesses who have been in the middle of this for the last 18 months, trying to make sense of it, trying to make sense of conflicting science, conflicting policies, conflicting regulations and guidance,” Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said during the hearings. “We're not offering assistance there. We're just adding more confusion, more rules.”
On the other hand, Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, who presented the bill in the House’s Covid-19 Committee, said lawmakers were there to “ensure we do all we can to protect the people of the state” from federal overreach.
“The Founders intended to power the rest of the states. We've simply allowed that to be flipped upside down,” he said. “Look at what our state has accomplished and what has happened over the last 10 years … the stark reality is, if you don't like the freedom that you have in Tennessee, man, you got 49 other states that you can pack your stuff up and move to.”
Tennessee is currently in third place for the most coronavirus cases per capita since the pandemic began, according to the New York Times and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Back in September, the state spent several weeks in first place.
Lee did not take part in the special session, but in a Twitter statement following the end of the session, the governor said he commended the General Assembly “for working to address the Biden Administration's overreach into our state, our workforce, & our schools. We are evaluating each piece of legislation to ensure we push back on harmful federal policies & do right by Tennesseans.”
Lee had previously resisted repeated requests from GOP lawmakers to hold a special session focused on Covid-19 measures. He instead issued an executive order overriding local school districts’ efforts to require staff and students to wear masks by giving parents the right to opt out of those requirements.
The order has been blocked by federal judges in at least three counties.
Last month’s special session was the third special session this year and the third time in state history that lawmakers have called themselves into action without the governor.
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