The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is strongly opposed to a GOP House proposal that would prevent governments statewide from imposing vaccination policies as well as sci-fi technology such as microchip implants.
House Bill 700 would also require employers and small business owners to offer vaccination exemptions to workers with religious concerns, according to media reports.
“We view this as another mandate on businesses related to their vaccination policies,” said Kara Corches, vice president of governmental affairs with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Our stance has not changed from last year. Let businesses decide. It's pretty simple."
Sponsored by Bill Hardwick (R-Waynesville), HB 700 was approved by the House last week and would provide healthcare workers and facilities with exemptions as well.
"We think in a system of free enterprise, businesses should be allowed to set their own vaccination policies," Corches said.
Other Republican sponsors include Rep. Ann Kelly, Rep. Brian Seitz, Cheri Toalson-Reisch, and Holly Jones.
A hearing has yet to be scheduled for a third reading.
“It mentions things like getting a microchip implanted under the skin that would potentially be required by an employer, or requiring gene editing technology to change your DNA and those same broad lists of exemptions would have to be applied to those future technologies, which no employers are doing,” Corches told the St. Louis Record. “It doesn't exist right now that we are aware of. So, we think this is a pretty overreaching bill.”
Last year, a similar anti-vaccination proposal, known as House Bill (HB) 1692, was approved by the House and advanced to the Senate however it ultimately was not approved.
“Microchipping employees is actually already illegal under state law but I think [Hardwick] believes this provides a broader definition of electronic devices being implanted under the skin,” Corches said in an interview. “Regardless if you're talking about vaccines or any other workplace policy, it should be a business’s right to decide and this just goes way too far on these future technologies.”
The bill, if approved, would also apply to public schools and charter schools and states that no student should receive a COVID-19 vaccination, a dose of messenger ribonucleic acid, receive any treatment or procedure intended or designed to edit or alter human deoxyribonucleic acid or the human genome, or have any mechanical or electronic device implanted subdermally.
"It may be a solution in search of a problem and most businesses probably aren't even requiring Covid vaccines anymore," Corches added.