Published: May 16, 2022
By: Piper Hutchinson
BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Service) – The House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure advanced a bill Monday, May 16 that would prohibit discrimination over vaccination or immunity status.
House Bill 252, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Edmonston, R-Gonzales, would amend several existing discrimination statutes, adding vaccination or immunity status as a protected class.
In most statutes, protected classes include race, sex, color, national origin, age, disability as well as occasionally marital status, economic status, family status and creed.
Edmonston’s bill originally applied to all discrimination statutes, including those related to employment, education, lending, health care and insurance. It was amended in committee to not apply to discrimination in housing rental and sales.
The bill passed 9-4 with all of the Republicans in favor and four of the committee’s Democrats opposed.
“Discrimination, as we all know, is not a Louisiana value,” Edmonston said. “It has a negative effect on our economy and our people young and old. They’ll be looking elsewhere for jobs, leaving our state. They believe in equal access for all under the law.”
Read more at KALB
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 