Governor Kristi Noem says draft proposals by Republican state lawmakers to ban vaccine mandates are “not conservative.”
Representatives Jon Hansen and Scott Odenbach have each announced proposals to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Noem does not support vaccine mandates. But she says it’s not the role of government to ban them in private businesses.
“It is not conservative to tell businesses what to do and how to treat their employees,” Noem says. “Most of the Republican legislators get that in South Dakota—they get that. But, there are the vocal few, like Jon Hansen and Scott Odenbach, who are chasing headlines and are trying to tell South Dakotans how to do business. They want to make government bigger and more powerful in your life. It’s like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
The Republican Speaker of the House Spencer Gosch supports calling a special session to consider the vaccine mandate ban. The governor, or two-thirds of the legislature, can call a special session.