The list of lawmakers who have publicly called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to call a fourth special legislative session to address a prohibition on employer vaccine mandates has continued to grow.
As of November 11, the list just included 16 lawmakers. It has since grown to 24, including lawmakers from both the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate—all Republicans.
The issue is one that was added at the last minute during the third special session, which concluded on October 19. The Legislature chose not to address the issue, even though there were several pieces of legislation filed to do so.
Running parallel to the last-minute addition to the special session agenda was the issuance of an executive order by Abbott attempting to prohibit such activity. That order has routinely been ignored, however, by the likes of major corporations such as American Airlines, Union-Pacific Railroad, and Southwest Airlines.
Since the conclusion of the third-called special session, the Republican Party of Texas has routinely come out in support of calling an additional special session for both the employer vaccine mandate prohibition and other legislative priorities that have been left on the table in recent sessions.
The Biden administration is attempting to implement their vaccine mandate via the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), who released their official rule requiring large employers to mandate that employees subject themselves to one of the COVID-19 regimens or face costly weekly testing, continued mask-wearing, and possible fines or penalties.
The rule implementation has since been halted, albeit likely only temporarily, as the issue likely makes its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Concerns have been raised that there is still nothing to protect employees from “woke corporations” implementing their own vaccine mandates before the rule goes into effect.
Abbott has thus far been reluctant to comment on the growing list of companies ignoring his executive order.
Lawmakers Requesting an Additional Special Legislative Session
The list currently includes:
State Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood)
State Sen. Drew Springer (R-Muenster)
State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney)
State Rep. Keith Bell (R-Forney)
State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg)
State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park)
State Rep. Jeff Cason (R-Bedford)
State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Waxahachie)
State Rep. Cole Hefner (R-Mt. Pleasant)
State Rep. Matt Krause (R-Haslet)
State Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Allen)
State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston)
State Rep. Candy Noble (R-Lucas)
State Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress)
State Rep. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound)
State Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler)
State Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano)
State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City)
State Rep. David Spiller (R-Jacksboro)
State Rep. Valoree Swanson (R-Spring)
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington)
State Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands)
State Rep. Cody Vasut (R-Angleton)
State Rep. James White (R-Hillister)
