Bill Text: TX SB53 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the authority of local governmental entities to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for entity employees.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-10-12 - Filed [SB53 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-SB53-Introduced.html
| 87S30278 KKR-D | ||
| By: Eckhardt, et al. | S.B. No. 53 | |
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| relating to the authority of local governmental entities to mandate | ||
| COVID-19 vaccinations for entity employees. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 161, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, is amended by adding Section 161.0055 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 161.0055. LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY AUTHORITY TO | ||
| MANDATE COVID-19 VACCINATIONS FOR ENTITY EMPLOYEES. (a) In this | ||
| section: | ||
| (1) "COVID-19" means the 2019 novel coronavirus | ||
| disease. | ||
| (2) "Local governmental entity" has the meaning | ||
| assigned by Section 554.001, Government Code. | ||
| (b) Notwithstanding any other law, a local governmental | ||
| entity may, as a condition of employment, require an entity | ||
| employee to provide to the entity in the form and manner prescribed | ||
| by the entity documentation of the employee's COVID-19 vaccination, | ||
| including any recommended booster dose of the vaccine. | ||
| (c) A local governmental entity that requires an entity | ||
| employee to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under Subsection (b) | ||
| shall allow the employee to claim an exemption from the required | ||
| vaccination based on a medical condition or a religious belief if | ||
| the employee submits to the entity on the form prescribed under | ||
| Subsection (d): | ||
| (1) an affidavit signed by a physician who is duly | ||
| registered and licensed to practice medicine in the United States | ||
| stating that, in the physician's opinion, the required vaccination | ||
| poses a significant risk to the employee's health; or | ||
| (2) an affidavit signed by the employee or, if the | ||
| employee is a minor, by the employee's parent or guardian stating | ||
| that the employee declines immunization for a specified and | ||
| verifiable religious-based reason and that the immunization | ||
| conflicts with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or | ||
| religious denomination of which the employee is an adherent or | ||
| member. | ||
| (d) The Texas Workforce Commission shall develop and make | ||
| available on the workforce commission's Internet website blank | ||
| affidavit forms to be used by an employee who claims an exemption | ||
| from a required COVID-19 vaccination under Subsection (c). | ||
| (e) An executive order, proclamation, or regulation issued | ||
| under Chapter 418, Government Code, may not suspend, limit, or | ||
| alter this section or an employment condition established by a | ||
| local governmental entity under this section. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the | ||
| legislative session. | ||
