Part of the measure bars agencies from issuing COVID-19 passports and prohibits Florida businesses from requiring customers to show documentation that they’ve been vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19.
“A business entity ... may not require patrons or customers to provide any documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-infection recovery to gain access to, entry upon, or service from the business operations in this state,” states the text of bill, which provides for a $5,000 fine per violation.
“We must recognize that vaccine hesitancy is real and understandable,“ Leek said, according to the outlet. ”Don’t get me wrong. For all of you in this room, for all of you who are listening out there, get vaccinated. Please get vaccinated. Let’s return to normal. But recognize that it is fair for a certain segment of our community to be hesitant about getting the vaccine.”
Rep. Omari Hardy, a Democrat, argued against the ban.
“If you care about keeping Florida open, and making sure that we’re not losing jobs due to the pandemic, why would you prevent people from enacting policies that give their customers the assurance, the confidence that they can walk into a business, and that they’ll be safe?” Hardy said, according to the News Service of Florida.
The measure will now head back to the Senate for approval and, later, to DeSantis’s desk for a signature.
DeSantis, who has been a vocal critic of vaccine passports, on April 2 signed an executive order barring their usage in Florida.
“Today I issued an executive order prohibiting the use of so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports,” DeSantis wrote in a tweet. “The Legislature is working on making permanent these protections for Floridians and I look forward to signing them into law soon.”
Vaccine passports have been criticized by civil liberties groups, who say they would potentially violate Americans’ privacy rights while denying key services to people who aren’t vaccinated.
“An agency may not issue a vaccine passport, vaccine pass, or other standardized documentation for the purpose of certifying the COVID-19 vaccination status of a citizen of the United States to a third party, or otherwise publish or share any COVID-19 vaccination record of a citizen of the United States, or similar health information,” the bill states.
“My private healthcare decisions—and yours—are nobody else’s business,” Biggs said in a statement. “Vaccine passports will not help our nation recover from COVID-19, instead, they will simply impose more Big Brother surveillance on our society.”
The White House has said that the Biden administration is opposed to federal vaccine passport mandates, although White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said that the administration is working on guidelines for private companies regarding the use of such systems.