Lawmakers decided Tuesday not to recommend requiring that people show proof of a Covid-19 vaccination to enter the Statehouse in 2022.
A week ago, the Legislative Advisory Committee on the Statehouse discussed possibly implementing a Covid-19 vaccine passport system. However, the 13-member panel voted 11-0 Tuesday to recommend only that the Legislature strongly encourage that people coming to the building be vaccinated; it would not be mandatory.
“This is an important motion,” Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, who chairs the committee, said just before the unanimous vote.
Rep. Charles “Butch” Shaw, R-Pittsford, said he didn’t feel comfortable requiring Covid-19 vaccinations to come to the Statehouse.
“It just no longer lets the People’s House be the People’s House, and they’ll make individual decisions by themselves to come into the building,” Shaw said.
Tuesday’s meeting was the advisory committee’s second in the past seven days, as it works on filing a report by Aug. 15 on how best to reopen the Statehouse in 2022.
The Statehouse was closed during the 15-month Covid-19 shutdown, but is scheduled to reopen to the public July 6, even as the advisory panel works on its plans for using the building in the 2022 legislative session.
On June 22, Senate Majority Leader Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, floated the idea of requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination for people to enter the building. Clarkson envisioned digital scanners at Statehouse entrances to read QR codes on smartphones that would be connected to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Vermont Department of Health.
On Tuesday, Michael O’Grady, a lawyer with the Vermont Office of Legislative Counsel, told the advisory group that, while the Legislature does have the authority to implement public health measures, his legal opinion is that it cannot mandate that people be vaccinated to enter the Statehouse.
O’Grady said he and another member of the legislative counsel team were still pulling together research on the topic. He added that Vermont courthouses have instituted a system where unvaccinated individuals are required to wear a mask, and if you are unmasked, it is presumed that a person has received a shot for the coronavirus.
However, Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, said she did not need to wait for additional information on the subject.
“I just want to say at the outset that, as a policy, I hope we don’t go down the road of requiring vaccinations for people who come in the building. I think it’s a bad idea,” Ancel said. “I don’t like it.”
Clarkson responded to Ancel, arguing that people will feel more at ease in the Statehouse if they know everyone sharing the space has received a Covid-19 vaccination.
“I agree, requiring it is going to be a challenge — would be a challenge — but I think people’s comfort level would be higher, and we could fit more people in [committee rooms] if you knew that they were vaccinated,” Clarkson said.
Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, said she felt strongly that the Legislature should encourage people to be fully vaccinated before coming to the Statehouse.
“That’s been kind of the state message all along,” Hardy said.
While the panel agreed unanimously not to recommend requiring that Statehouse visitors be vaccinated, it still plans to discuss whether there should be a mask requirement for unvaccinated people.
