Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, said the authors of Assembly Bill 1993 decided to withdraw it from consideration in light of the state’s sharp decline in COVID cases over the last two months.
State employees, teachers and health care workers are already required under state health guidance to prove their vaccination status or provide a valid religious or medical exemption. A bill that would have required all California workers to prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 was withdrawn from the state legislature just before its first committee hearing, one of the bill’s authors said Tuesday.
Wicks introduced the bill last month with Assembly members Evan Low, D-San Jose, Akilah Weber, D-San Diego, and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, as co-authors. Wicks said the bill was also withdrawn due to opposition from law enforcement and public safety unions, and expressed hope that they would continue working with state officials to ensure the state’s police and fire department employees get vaccinated.
Wicks, Law, Weber and Aguiar-Curry are all members of the legislature’s COVID-19 vaccine work group, along with Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, Dr. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Josh Newman, D-Fullerton.