Earlier this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott banned vaccine passports in his state which had everyone across the country cheering in celebration.
Texas is open 100%.
Texans should have the freedom to go where they want without any limits, restrictions, or requirements.
Today, I signed a law that prohibits any TX business or gov’t entity from requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information. pic.twitter.com/JQXOe4cHgY
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 7, 2021
Everyone was thrilled to see that another governor in the country was taking a stand against the tyrannical push for everyone to receive the experimental jab. However, was Abbott’s bill actually good, or was it all for optics and it in fact doesn’t do anything?
There are many that have already gone on Twitter to blast the bill and call it nothing but a sham, so we are going to look deeper into it.
BOMBSHELL: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's vaccine passport ban does virtually nothing to prevent businesses from requiring them. He's "just lying," says one pundit.
Businesses who require vaccine passports will simply not be able to contract with the state.https://t.co/E2iCOkg9ME
— National File (@NationalFile) June 8, 2021
For all the out of state hot takes: This is performative. The law signed by @GregAbbott_TX says companies with state contracts (very few companies) cannot require customers to prove they've been vaccinated. Abbott is just lying when he says vaccine passports are banned #txlege https://t.co/r89lKKpHwq
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) June 8, 2021
Greg Abbott is a lying dog faced pony soldier. His vaccine passport ban only affects businesses that contract with the state and businesses that receive grants.
There is no penalty preventing the average Texas business from requiring vaccine passports.https://t.co/VcTC6ynYSH
— Tom Pappert is also infrastructure (@realTomPappert) June 8, 2021
Here’s the bill for you to look over yourself, but here is the section referencing the ban of COVID-19 vaccine passports:
Sec.161.0085.COVID-19 VACCINE PASSPORTS PROHIBITED.
(a) In this section, “COVID-19” means the 2019 novel coronavirus disease.
(b) A governmental entity in this state may not issue a vaccine passport, vaccine pass, or other standardized
documentation to certify an individual ’s COVID-19 vaccination status to a third party for a purpose other than health care or otherwise publish or share any individual ’s COVID-19 immunization record or similar health information for a purpose other than health care.(c) A business in this state may not require a customer to provide any documentation certifying the customer ’s COVID-19 vaccination or post-transmission recovery on entry to, to gain access to, or to receive service from the business. A business that fails to comply with this subsection is not eligible to receive a grant or enter into a contract payable with state funds.
However, it’s Part C that is the key section.
Now, while it states that the government is FORBIDDEN to ban vaccine passports it does offer businesses what some would call a loophole.
The so-called punishment for any business that would force people to show a vaccine passport would be that they could not receive any government grant money or enter into a contract with the government.
So, if you dive into this you can imagine that not many businesses would actually fall into this category.
Of course, there will be people divided into different camps on the matter and they will say that it is a private business and they can ask what they want.
Right?
Well, that brings me to the next point.
Are private businesses allowed to violate health privacy laws or the 4th amendment?
If the government in the branches of the federal and state level actually followed the constitution they would protect the citizens from these types of infringements. They would actually say to corporations and any government entity that they need to back off and stop infringing, but those days are long gone.
While on paper or not even on paper but in theatre, Abbott’s bill looks amazing but it doesn’t do anything to protect the people of Texas.
However, the bill that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed is just what all governors should be looking at as a template for protecting Americans’ rights.
This bill in particular actually puts the screws on businesses and it caused one corporation to stop discriminating against those who do not want the jab.
Florida will fine any business or school $5,000 each time it requires a “vaccine passport,
Senate OK needed to send Florida vaccine passport ban to DeSantis’ desk https://t.co/ybwaQZRDBj— Ewa Nartowska (@ewakentmere) May 1, 2021
Cruise lines cave to Republicans and GOP Republican Gov. DeSantis. You do NOT have to be vaccinated to go on a cruise.
Would you go on a cruise now? https://t.co/TBxBpYEMBL
— Thomas Kaine (@thomaskaine5) June 7, 2021
National File had the exclusive report:
Yesterday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican bracing for a difficult campaign season with strong primary challengers, claimed to sign a bill that would ban private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination – commonly referred to as vaccine passports – from customers. The bill not only fails to live up to Florida’s law in terms of what entities are prohibited from requiring the vaccine passports, but also fails to impose any meaningful penalty to businesses that refuse to comply with the law.
At the beginning of the subsection dealing with the supposed ban of vaccine passports, the law seems to codify Abbott’s previous executive order preventing the Texas government from requiring COVID-19 passports, and then appears to extend the same prohibition to businesses. However, a close reading of the bill reveals that the only penalty for a business requiring vaccine passports is that it will not be eligible for state grants or to contract with the state.
“A business in this state may not require a customer to provide any documentation certifying the customer’s COVID-19 vaccination or post-transmission recovery,” the language in the bill begins, only to continue, “A business that fails to comply with this subsection is not eligible to receive a grant or enter into a contract payable with state funds.” Texas pundits assert that very few Texas businesses fall into this category, and thus the overwhelming majority of Texas employers will be permitted to require vaccine passports with little to no negative repercussions.
So, what do you all think? Will Abbott redraft his bill or let it stay the way it is?