Texas Political Update November 8, 2021

Posted November 11, 2021

Biden Administration Vaccine Mandate Blocked
Over the weekend, Texas Republicans claimed an early victory after a U.S. federal appeals court temporarily blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from mandating that companies with more than 100 employees require workers to get coronavirus vaccines or submit to weekly testing. In a two-page order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit cited “grave statutory and constitutional issues” with the federal COVID-19 vaccine rule developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The court did not provide details. The vaccine requirement would apply to about 84 million workers across the country and go into effect Jan. 4th. The decision followed a joint petition filed by a handful of states, including Texas, plus several businesses and advocacy groups that argued government overreach. The safety measures could, in some cases, preempt state and local laws, including Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on vaccine mandates.

Shannon Meroney

Shannon Meroney brings ten years experience as a multi-state lobbyist based primarily at the Texas Capitol and ten years of courtroom legal expertise to her dynamic government affairs consulting practice. Prior to creating Meroney Public Affairs LLC, Shannon spent six years as a Senior Government Relations Manager for Aetna, a Fortune 100 health insurance corporation with multi-state responsibility. Previous to that, she was a Partner at the Texas law firm Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons representing multiple corporate clients and large trade associations at the Capitol, in the courtroom and providing legal drafting and analysis expertise.