ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black said Wednesday that he's still trying to determine if some of his department's employees are subject to an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden requiring contractors to be vaccinated.
Black, Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, all Republicans, spoke out against the federal requirement at a news conference discussing a lawsuit seeking to block the requirement, which Kemp called an “outrageous big-government power grab.”
“President Biden and his administration want to invade the personal lives of thousands of Georgians, burdening hundreds of businesses of all sizes and endangering countless jobs,” Kemp said.
Georgia is leading of group of states including Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia in a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Augusta. A total of 19 states have sued in four separate suits.
The states ask federal judges to block Biden’s requirement that all employees of federal contractors be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8, arguing the mandate violates federal procurement law and is an overreach of federal power.
Biden has argued that sweeping vaccine mandates will help end the deadly pandemic, but Republicans nationwide have opposed the vaccination requirements. The lawsuits argue the president is abusing federal procurement law by trying to use it to require contractor employees get inoculated and that the rule violates the 10th Amendment reserving power to the states.
“This lawsuit is not about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Carr, who described himself as pro-vaccination. "This lawsuit is based solely on the rule of law. The president does not have the authority to infringe upon state and individual rights."
Georgia Democrats say the lawsuit is a “dangerous political stunt” that will only contribute to the spread of COVID-19.
Black said he's still trying to find out whether his employees who are subsidized by federal money are considered contractors. He said even if they're not, some state agriculture employees would be required to comply because they share space with public university employees.
The University System of Georgia is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, and some of Georgia's 26 public universities have instructed contractor employees that they must get vaccinated. Kemp declined to comment on whether he thought universities moving ahead was a good idea, although he said regents joined the lawsuit “because they know what a disaster this is.”
Carr’s lawsuit asks a judge to move quickly to block the rules, which could freeze the requirements.
___
Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.
