Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is considering kicking OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) out of the state and replacing it with a new state run government agency due to the Biden administration unconstitutional and authoritarian vaccine mandate. While I’m sure it will cause some problems temporarily between Florida and the Federal government, this is absolutely the right move when you have an administration that has made clear that they do not care about the Constitution or the law at all.
The courts have ruled that the Biden administration must put their plan to mandate that companies require the COVID vaccine on hold so that the issue can be decided in court. President Biden then told companies that the mandate to force companies to continue to require the vaccine is still in place, despite the decision from the courts.
Governor DeSantis appears to have the backing of top Republicans in the state. Treasure Coast State Rep. John Snyder told CBS 12 news that “We are not going to let Joe Biden turn our businesses owners who are the backbone of our economy into the vaccine police”.
“In the coming days, we will review the Governor’s specific proposals as well as discuss our own ideas for legislative action, including whether now is the time for Florida to withdraw from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and establish our own state program,” claimed Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson in a statement announcing the special session a week ago. “We believe that by doing so, Florida will have the ability to alleviate onerous federal regulations placed on employers and employees.”
CBS affiliate KCBY reported that “there isn’t a clear legal framework on whether or not the state can leave the federal regulatory agency, which focuses on workplace safety.” The Department of Labor claimed that it would be difficult for the state to develop their own safety protocols without the permission from the Federal government. A spokesperson for the Department of Labor told KCBY that “State Plan States are required to have regulations that are identical to or at least as effective as federal regulations. In particular, the [vaccine rule] preempts any state or local requirements that ban or limit an employer’s authority to require vaccination, face covering, or testing”.
If we still care about the Constitution at all, Florida absolutely has the right to withdraw from a federal organization that operates completely outside of the Constitution to begin with. The tenth amendment is clear that any rights not provided to the federal government in the first nine amendments are then left up to the state. It’s hard to make the case for OSHA even having the Constitutional right to exist, let alone when the Federal government gives an order to ignore the courts and operate however they want.
I hope Florida follows through and actually withdraws from OSHA completely if they are going to keep forcing companies to mandate vaccines to their employees and operating outside of the law. DeSantis is the leader that we desperately need in these times and I hope more states follow suit, not just with withdrawing from OSHA, but withdrawing from anything that our Federal government does that the Constitution forbids.
I’m sure that when you have a Federal government this out of control, they will take retaliatory measures against Florida. This is why we need states to start banning together and refuse to implement anything that violates the Constitution. Sure, you can punish one state if they are standing alone but how is the federal government going to punish 25 states standing together and standing up for the Constitution?
Florida lawmakers will come back from vacation early this week for a special session called by Governor DeSantis to vote on outlawing all vaccine mandates in the state and are expected to begin the discussion of kicking OSHA out of the state as well.