SC business groups want option to require COVID vaccination, against bill as is
A group of 28 South Carolina business associations are coming out against a bill that would prevent private businesses from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for their employees.
The group includes the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, South Carolina Retail Association, South Carolina Trucking Association, the Lexington Chamber and Visitors Center, the Columbia Chamber, the Greenville Chamber, the Upstate Chamber Coalition and Upstate SC Alliance.
“We ask the General Assembly to support free enterprise and reject this unprecedented step against the internal operations of our state’s job creators,” the group said in a statement.
A House Ways and Means subcommittee on Tuesday passed legislation that would prevent private businesses from firing or suspending employees for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine. The legislation also would provide $10 million to help private businesses pay for weekly COVID testing for unvaccinated workers.
The legislation also would prohibit school districts and the state and local governments from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for employees and first responders. School districts also wouldn’t be able to require students to take the vaccine.
The full Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to hear the bill Thursday morning, and potentially move it to the full House for its consideration.
“South Carolina has a long-held tradition of being a pro-business state that allows businesses to operate with minimal government intervention,” the group’s statement said. “Employment decisions have been left to individual businesses in our state, subject to what each business believes is right for their operations.”
If passed by the House, the proposal still needs to get through the state Senate and signed by Gov. Henry McMaster before it becomes law.
McMaster, who previously said he did not want to tell businesses how to operate, on Wednesday would not say whether he would sign the bill if it made it to his desk.
“We’d have to look at any legislation that addresses anything in that area, but it is not necessary to require people to get a vaccine,” McMaster told reporters. “A lot of people have very good reasons to get a vaccine and very good reasons not to be vaccinated. And putting mandates on our people I think is disruptive and counterproductive.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2021 at 4:13 PM.
