Lawmakers began a special session Monday night, in which they’re expected to approve a $900 million spending package that includes tax revenues, incentives and even an infrastructure project.
The package is a welcoming gift to Ford for building what they’re calling the Blue Oval City in West Tennessee. However, much of the conversation off the floor was about COVID-19.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton says he’s got enough votes in the state House of Representatives to call for a special session on coronavirus without help from the governor.
One thing Sexton wants to discuss during the session: President Joe Biden’s new vaccinate-or-test mandate for companies with more than 100 employees.
“I think that if the President Biden declares that the employer [or] employee needs to pay for that weekly test, I view that as a tax,” said Sexton. “We may move in to try to nullify President Biden’s stuff that he’s trying to go through OSHA and do a nullification-type bill and push back on the federal government.”
Other items to be discussed are whether a person who refuses to get a vaccine can leave their job and receive unemployment. Usually, unemployment is awarded to people who did not leave on their own free will.
These measures won’t be discussed unless the state Senate agrees, so now Sexton is waiting to see whether that chamber has their votes. If Senate Speaker Randy McNally has the signatures needed, the COVID-19 special session would begin Oct. 27.
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