Governor Greg Abbott recently signed a bill that bans vaccine and mask mandates across Texas along with COVID-19 lockdowns, but some opponents of COVID-19 restrictions say the bill does not go far enough.
Senate Bill 29, which will take effect on September 1, prohibits any “governmental entity” from imposing a “mandate requiring a person to wear a face mask or other face covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19 … [or] a mandate requiring a person to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Furthermore, “a governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring the closure of a private business, public school, open-enrollment charter school, or private school to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the legislation reads.
However, some anti-COVID-19 restriction advocates are not satisfied with this legislation.
“Governor Abbott signed SB 29 into law, but there is still so much work to do,” said Texans for Vaccine Choice on Twitter.
Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) voted for SB 29 and said it is “fine” but questioned how effective it will be.
“Is there a single COVID mandate that SB 29 will end? Probably not,” he told The Texas Tribune, adding that private vaccine mandates are “alive and well in Texas” and the state “should be leading the fight against the COVID tyranny.”
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Harrison reintroduced a stricter bill to the special legislative session last week that would prohibit private businesses from requiring their employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
Harrison has introduced the Texas COVID Vaccine Freedom Act multiple times since 2021, but each of his attempts has been killed.
On Tuesday, Harrison sent a letter to Abbott requesting he adds a “comprehensive ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates” to the agenda of a special session in light of the recent announcement from the Biden administration.
The Texas GOP tweeted on Friday that while SB 29 has been signed into law, “it’s still completely legal for your private employer” to “force you to get the jab.”
“This needs to be fixed in the special [legislative] session,” the party said. “Until then, covid mandates still [exist] in Texas!”
SB 29 was first passed by the Texas Senate in April, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
After its initial bipartisan passage, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick issued a statement in support of SB 29.
“Local governments across Texas and America took extreme measures to shut down businesses, schools and houses of worship [during the COVID-19 pandemic],” Patrick said.
He said that as early as March 2020 he “suggested that Texas reopen our economy as quickly and safely as possible.”
“I took an extraordinary amount of criticism but, in hindsight, everybody can now see that I was correct,” he continued. “Texas is thriving and our economy is the strongest in the world.”
Patrick said SB 29 will serve to “prevent” such lockdowns “from ever happening in the future.”