Idaho lawmakers advance vaccine worker comp legislation

BOISE (AP) — Proposed legislation that would make it easier for Idaho employees to get worker compensation if they get sick after taking employee-mandated vaccines was approved Tuesday by a House panel.

The bill and a few others related to COVID-19 advanced, but other legislation appeared to stall on the Senate side.

Also advancing in the House was an anti-mask mandate bill and bills aimed at preventing what backers called discrimination based on vaccine status and to prohibit questioning of the sincerity of people claiming religious exemptions from vaccinations. The full House could speed up the process and vote Tuesday to send those bills to the Senate.

The House Judiciary, Rules & Administration Committee approved the worker compensation bill related to employee-mandated vaccines.

Supporters claimed that workers are getting sick after being vaccinated for COVID-19 and some are having problems receiving compensation. The bill tilts the field toward employees for compensation of hard-to-prove claims such as illnesses caused by vaccines, backers said.

Bill opponents said Idaho’s worker compensation has worked well for decades and that workers sickened by vaccines are already being compensated. They said changing the law could be costly for many employers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says common side effects of getting the COVID-19 vaccine can include, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea.

Republican Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy complained that lawmakers on House Judiciary, Rules & Administration Committee took only an hour to consider a potential law that would have significant ramifications for many employers.

“We have no clue what this is going to do,” she said, suggesting that the committee hold off passing the COVID-19 workers compensation measure until the Legislature meets for its regular session in January.

The three other bills cleared the House State Affairs Committee. The full House is expected to consider them later Tuesday with an expedited voting process and potentially send them to the Senate.

The Senate State Affairs Committee considered four bills about COVID-19 and vaccinations. But Republican Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, the committee’s chairwoman, said the hearing was informational, meaning the bills did not advance from the committee and likely will not be voted on.

The Senate on a voice vote also approved a declaration stating opposition to President Joe Biden’s vaccine requirements for federal workers and contractors and vaccine requirements for large employers and health care employers.

Idaho is involved in three lawsuits against the Biden administration involving those requirements. One requiring employers with more than 100 employees to require vaccinations or frequent testing has been put on hold by a federal court.

Idaho lawmakers started meeting on Monday in what is essentially a continuation of the 2021 legislative session after more than five months off. The House never adjourned, though the Senate did. The Idaho attorney general’s office has said reconvening was probably legal, but a court could rule otherwise. If that happens, the laws they are passing would not be valid.