The Covid Passport Prohibition That Wasn’t

Obama: I will use my pen and phone to take on Congress

Ducey: I will use my pen and phone to take on the AZ legislature

In classical Obamanesque fashion, Ducey has been walking all over the Arizona State Legislature for over 12 months now. And there is no end in sight.

He can get away with it because we are experiencing a devastating political perfect storm created by the merging of three conditions.

  1. A substantial Democrat minority in both chambers, intent on advancing its socialist, Marxist agenda and hellbent on preventing Republicans from having victories on significant issues.
  2. An extremely thin one-vote Republican majority in both chambers. Given the attitude of the Democrats, this enables any one of the 47 Republican legislators to single-handedly kill any bill that they do not like. This creates 47 potential prima donnas and a handful of real ones.
  3. A Republican party that is in total disarray. They do not seem to be able to agree on what time of day it is, much less on a strategy to increase their presence at the state legislature or anywhere else. Characterizing them as members of a circular firing squad would not be too much of an exaggeration.

Given these conditions, Ducey can carry on his mischief with impunity. The latest of such mischief is his treatment of house bill HB2190. This bill, if enacted would have been a substantial step forward in preventing the use of COVID passports in Arizona. But this bill is stuck in the senate under threat of vetoing by the governor.

To add insult to injury, Ducey has issued Executive Order 2021-09, promoted as a means of prohibiting the use of COVID passports. But it falls way short of that because there are four major problems with EO2021-09:

  1. The so-called prohibition applies only to government entities, and then not all of them.
  2. Specifically excludes private businesses and a host of other entities.
  3. The governor may reverse this order any time he desires.
  4. The order is in effect only while a state of emergency is in effect. Once the state of emergency is lifted, the executive order no longer applies.
  5. There is no mention of means of enforcing, or penalties for failure to comply.
  6. Because they have a choice, businesses may impose vaccination requirements either for nefarious reasons or to ward off frivolous lawsuits.that are likely to be initiated by customers or employees claiming they were infected as a result of “lax” conditions.

The order may be read by going to https://azgovernor.gov/executive-orders

On the other hand, HB2190 provides good, solid protection that addresses all aspects of this problem. Here are some of its provisions:

  1. Prohibits the use of people’s state of vaccination to determine eligibility for trade, business, or benefits by both government and private entities.
  2. Prohibits the governor from using executive orders to require vaccinations.
  3. Has greater stability. Its provisions are in effect until amended or repealed by legislation voted in by the legislature and signed by the governor.
  4. It has teeth. Violations of this statute are classified as class 5 felonies.

The complete list of provisions may be found by going to the official HB2190 summary at: https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/1R/summary/S.2190APPROP_STRIKERMEMO_ASPASSEDCOMMITTEE.DOCX.htm