Meeting Public Comments

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SF 323

A bill for an act prohibiting employers from engaging in certain actions relating to infectious diseases and providing penalties.

Agenda

Subcommittee members: Guth-CH, Dotzler, Taylor, J.

Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Time: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Location: Room 315

Comments Submitted:

The purpose of comments is to provide information to members of the subcommittee.

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

02-21-2023

Carrie Wright

I support this bill. Bodily autonomy is an inherent Godgiven right. The fact that private companies mandated COVID vaccination in the past few years is reprehensible. And that would be the case even if the vaccines were benign and harmless. But add the fact, that the COVID vaccine is experimental and was approved for use only under emergency use authorization, and its beyond reprehensible. Add on to that the are serious adverse events and deaths reported from taking the vaccine, and its hard to come up with words to describe this atrocity. Please support this bill and protect Iowa citizens from this kind of overreach and violation of our rights and privacy in the future.

02-21-2023

Jennifer Leonhard

I support this bill.I lost my job because I did not get the vaccine. I had religious objections as well as valid medical reasons and a history of medical exemptions but it did not matter. Then my husband was our sole income. Our 4th amendment should protect us from forced medical proceedures but it didn't. The 1st amendment should have protected our religious rights against this, but it didn't. We need the sovereignty over our own bodies protected against employer's whims.

02-21-2023

Erin Billings

Please pass this bill onto the full committee and then to the Senate for a vote. As Governor Reynolds has stated so many times Iowans are capable of making their own decisions. Employers should not be allowed to force vaccinations, treatments or other procedures upon their employees for an infectious disease. As an employee of a company that contracts with Medicare and Medicaid, I have been subjected to all kinds of arbitrary rules and regulations, poking, prodding, sticking, etc. I think it has been wrong and a violation of my rights and freedoms. My patients have complained likewise of being overly and continously tested, poked, etc and didn't want to comply. Unfortunately many Iowans were forced to comply with unnecessary, unhelpful and unpleasant regulations or lose our jobs and sources of livliehood or in my patients cases, lose their doctors or home health agencies. That is not freedom! Covid was an eyeopener to me and many other Iowans. We should never be forced to do things against our will again and this bill will at least in part address this. It doesn't go nearly far enough but something is better than nothing I guess. Get this bill through committee and then make it law!

02-21-2023

Miranda B

I support this bill. Medical decisions should be left up to the employee and their practitioners. It is not a one size fits all and there is evidence, after the fact, that this vaccine was dangerous for some people and that it's efficacy was sorely misrepresented. No employer should be able to force medical procedures or medications on their employees.

02-22-2023

Sara F

I support this bill. Medical decisions should be made by each individual and shouldnt be tied to their employment. Employers being able to tonforce medical treatments, procedures, tests, medications etc. takes away everyones informed consent. Please pass this bill

02-22-2023

Sara Ferneding

Please pass this bill. Medical discrimination needs to be stopped. People need to be allowed to choose their private health care choices on their own & without the threat of losing their jobs. All medical procedures, including receiving a vaccination, have risks. Where their is risk their must be a choice. Our right to choose our medical care gets taken away when we are threatened with medical procedures in order to keep our jobs.I feel this bill needs to be expanded to include vaccination status & tests for any & all illnesses. If we specify just Covid 19 then we will be back here again each time a new virus/illness/outbreak happens.

02-22-2023

Lindsay Maher

Everyone has a right to their own privacy and their own property as defined in both our state and US constitutions. The fear that everyone who chooses not to get vaccinated with the vaccines available are a danger to society, for 16 out of the thousands of different microorganisms that inhabit our bodies and environments, needs to be part of this discussion before the medical lobby and pharmaceutical companies infringe on peoples rights. The sole purpose of the government is to protect our rights not to provide for our safety, except for in the common defense of our boarders. It is high time to stop allowing public private partnerships to erode our rights and time to defend the citizens of Iowa.

02-22-2023

Renita Maassen

This is so important!As a Registered Nurse I cant imagine this being any different than asking someone their HIV status prior to job interview/employment. That would be seen as absurd and a violation of privacy. Covid related questions are no different. NO ONE ELSES BUSINESS!