May 5, 2021- 6:00 p.m.
The Iowa Legislature will send a bill to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk that would deny state grants and contracts to any local governments and businesses that require customers to prove they’ve had the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Iowa Senate gave final passage to a bill limiting the use of the so-called vaccine passports on Wednesday afternoon, exactly four weeks after Reynolds made a public call for the state to “take a stand” against them. The Iowa House passed the same bill last week.
“Here in Iowa, we will protect Iowans from being forced by tyrannical governments to inject their body with chemicals that they may or may not wish to have,” Sen. Jake Chapman, R-Adel, said Wednesday.
The bill passed 32-16, with two Democrats — Sens. Eric Giddens, of Cedar Falls, and Jackie Smith, of Sioux City — voting in favor, and one Republican — Sen. Jim Carlin, of Sioux City — voting against.
No one besides Chapman, the bill’s floor manager, spoke for or against the bill during debate.
“Vaccine passports” are identification systems people could use to show they’ve received COVID-19 shots. The White House has said the federal government will not roll out its own system requiring Americans to carry vaccine credentials and will instead let the private sector take the lead. Iowa state officials have also not said they plan to create such a requirement, nor have lawmakers cited any local governments planning to do so.
The bill, House File 889, would prohibit the state or any political subdivision in Iowa from including a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status on a government-issued identification card. Businesses and government entities also could not require customers or others invited onto their premises to prove they have been vaccinated before entering.
The bill’s wide-ranging definition of “business” would apply to venues ranging from movie theaters to churches to private colleges. The bill specifically includes retailers who are required to have a sales tax permit, a nonprofit or not-for-profit organization or an establishment open to the public or that limits entrance by a cover charge or membership requirement. Businesses and governments that violate the ban could not receive state grants and contracts.
The bill’s prohibitions would not apply to health care facilities, such as hospitals or nursing homes, and would not affect requirements employers may place on their employees.
Iowa is among several states where Republicans have worked on proposals to ban or limit proof of vaccination credentials.
Republicans have said the bill is needed to protect medical privacy and prevent businesses from discriminating against customers based on their vaccination status. Some Democrats have said they could support the restriction on government-issued vaccine passports, but others have said they don’t agree with the way the bill approaches restrictions on businesses.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, told reporters that vaccine passports are not an issue in Iowa and that the odds of the state adopting them “are about the same as me becoming the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.”
“I continue to believe that we have these enormous challenges facing our state,” he said. “Vaccine passports is not one of them.”
The bill gained some bipartisan support during the process and received seven Democratic votes in the House when it passed. But some Republicans have opposed it, saying they want it to go further. Five House Republicans voted against the bill last week, in addition to Carlin’s no vote Wednesday.
During a House subcommittee meeting on the bill last week, Carlin said he had reservations about exemptions in the bill for health care facilities. A proposed amendment that would have removed that exemption failed in the House last week.
