OHSA drops Oregon vaccine mandate

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

Oregon OHSA has dropped its plan for implementing a vaccine-or-test requirement for businesses with more than 100 employees. The plan was expected to have required unvaccinated employees to wear a mask and be subject to weekly testing.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling struck down that requirement for private businesses.  Read more on Oregon’s developments here.

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board commented on the Supreme Court decision that has now impacted many of the states’ local decisions;“The Court’s major questions doctrine requires Congress to give clear statutory direction for economically and politically significant actions. Congress never passed a law authorizing the mandate, though in their dissent the three liberal Justices purported to find one in the emanations and penumbras of the OSHA law. A Senate majority voted last month to disapprove it.  OSHA also violated administrative law by not tailoring the mandate to workplace risk. While OSHA provided narrow exemptions for employees who work remotely or outdoors 100% of the time, the Court notes these “exemptions are largely illusory.” Only 9% of landscapers qualify as working exclusively outside. The rule “otherwise operates as a blunt instrument,” the Court writes…The disappointment was the Court’s 5-4 decision upholding the mandate on 10 million health-care workers. The Chief and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the liberals in ruling that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did have proper legislative authority.CMS found broad latitude to regulate healthcare providers when “necessary in the interest of the health and safety of individuals who are furnished services.” But that judgment was taken to task in a sharp dissent by Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch and Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett.”

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