Bill Description: Senate Bill 1224 provides protections for certain employee exemptions related to the Covid-19 vaccine. 

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Analyst Note: S1224 is one of several pieces of legislation introduced during the November meeting of the 2021 session to address the issue of vaccine mandates in Idaho. 

Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

S1224 creates Section 44-906, Idaho Code, to deal with immunization exemptions. The language requires employers to allow for certain exemptions — medical, religious, and "natural immunity exemptions." This latter exemption will require proof of a positive PCR test or a "positive serum antibody test from a CLIA-certified laboratory showing the employee has specific antibodies against the COVID-19 virus."

It is certainly positive to recognize the validity of exemptions — especially medical and religious exemptions — but it is concerning that this bill does nothing to protect the privacy and personal medical information of individuals. Instead, it endorses the idea that employers should be intimately involved in monitoring the personal health of their employees and should treat them differently based on their health conditions. 

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