GOP Opposition to Vaccine Mandate

Republican attorney generals in several states, where federal OSHA has delegated to states its workplace health enforcement powers, are waiting to see what vaccination and testing mandates the agency will expect from them.  OSHA has approved 26 states and two territories to enforce their own workplace safety and health regulations if the rules are as effective or better than the federal rule.  Republican attorneys generals in seven states with their own version of OSHA: Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming have vowed to fight an OSHA testing and vaccination mandate.  Once the federal standard is enacted, state plans have 30 days to notify OSHA that they will adopt the federal requirements or write their own regulation.  However, when a state objects to a federal regulation and does not adopt it, the process for federal OSHA to force the state into compliance doesn’t move swiftly, if at all. South Carolina has not adopted any version of OSHA’s Covid-19 emergency standard for health-care employers, enacted June 21, and OSHA has yet to step in.