Posted on 06/07/2021 8:27:29 PM PDT by ebb tide
Carnival Cruise Line recently announced that it will resume cruising in Galveston, Texas beginning in July and will require passengers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is disputing Carnival’s vaccine mandate.
Abbott announced Monday he would be signing a law that prevents “businesses operating in Texas from requiring vaccine passports any vaccine information.”
“Texas is open 100% without any restrictions or limitations or requirements,” Abbott tweeted.
I’m signing a law today that prohibits any business operating in Texas from requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information.
Texas is open 100% without any restrictions or limitations or requirements. https://t.co/ukPxNQ2pAt
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 7, 2021
Abbott did not provide any other details about the law and his office simply pointed The Federalist back to his tweet.
In April, Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting the government from mandating “vaccine passports” in the state while the COVID-19 vaccine is still under emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. He also banned any “public or private entity” that receives government funding, such as loans, grants, and contracts, from withholding service or entry to Texans who do not have proof that they received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Carnival Cruise Line, however, did not shy away from operating in the state after “progress and support for our U.S. restart from the CDC and other key federal agencies.”
“The current CDC requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect, especially given the large number of families with younger children who sail with us,” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, announced on Monday shortly before Abbott’s tweet. “As a result, our alternative is to operate our ships from the U.S. during the month of July with vaccinated guests.”
Carnival did not immediately respond to The Federalist’s comment.
Abbott’s decision to crack down on businesses follows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ crusade against vaccine passports which began in April. Since issuing an executive order banning government and businesses from mandating vaccine documentation in exchange for goods and services, DeSantis has been embroiled in a fight with the state’s cruise industry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over regulations requiring passengers to be vaccinated.
“We’re challenging the authority of the CDC to be involved to this extent,” DeSantis said last week. “The problem is the CDC, the problem is not Florida.”
Over the last few months, Abbott has followed in DeSantis’s footsteps signing legislation combatting Big Tech, issuing executive orders lifting mask mandates, and pledging to crack down on loose voting laws.
Former President Donald Trump recently endorsed Abbott for re-election in Texas. According to Trump, “no governor has done more to secure the Border and keep our communities safe than Governor Abbott” and Abbott “will never let you down.”
Ping
He needs to make sure employers can’t require vaccine information from employees as well.
It appears that Trump’s endorsement has inspired the TX governor to be more like the FL governor
Gov DeSantis went one better and got a law passed to levy a $5,000 per passenger fine on any cruise ship that required a COVID passport for boarding.
Gov. Abbott can up the ante by applying that standard to any business in Texas that requires a COVID passport for entry.
PS Some Florida cruise ship companies have already scuttled the passport idea
Careful...the cruise lines are likely add that fine as a “surcharge” to the passengers.
The South be risin’ agin!
Then Carnival can just weigh anchors and find another port, maybe in New Mexico or Arizona. :)
He needs to make sure employers can’t require vaccine information from employees as well.
Yes he does because many are doing it. That Methodist Hospital in Houston for one and many of my friend’s kids are faced with this problem at their work.
Bill has been signed and has gone into effect immediately.
Link to gov Abbott signing it:
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1402022555960086531?s=19
“Texas is open 100% and we want to make sure you have the freedom to go where you want without limits. The Texas legislature passed a law that I am about to sign, that prohibits vaccine passports in Texas. No business or government entity can require a person to provide a vaccine passport or any other vaccine information as a condition of receiving service or entering any place. I want to thank the Texas legislature for getting this bill to my desk.”
GOVERNOR ABBOTT SIGNS SB 968
BANNING VACCINE PASSPORTS IN TEXAS!
Governor Abbott has assured Texans that vaccines are always voluntary and never forced, and
today he solidified his stance and the rights of Texans by signing Senate Bill 968!
Texans for Vaccine Choice salutes the heroic efforts of Senator Kolkhorst and Representative Klick who worked tirelessly to protect Texas consumers from overreaching and discriminatory business policies that would violate our basic right to medical privacy.
This bill specifically prohibits:
1. Government entities from issuing COVID-19 vaccine passports of any kind
2. Private businesses from requiring customers to proof of COVID-19 vaccination or immunity in order to enter that business or receive services from them
How does she know what the vaccination status of the guests is?
"[...]especially given the large number of families with younger children who sail with us [...]"
What do young children have to do with it? Is she saying that they (the young children) are at risk?
Oh, I get it now... Why doesn't she just come out and call them "young carriers?"
Regards,
And now the pharma’s are going after the kids, trying to draft them as guinea pigs for the covid vaccine and the CDC is busy generating fake data to support it.
Won’t be long before school districts and colleges are requiring it as well.
Seems like that would be even worse for business than requiring the “passports”.
Wouldn’t this absolve employers from (of?) plague related liability?
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