The Iowa Senate on Wednesday passed legislation that would effectively ban businesses from requiring individuals to provide a vaccine passport prior to entering.

The bill would also prohibit local governments from including a person’s vaccination status on an identification card.

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The bill applies to a wide range of businesses but would not apply to health care facilities, such as hospitals or nursing homes.

Employers placing requirements on employees would also be exempt.

The Des Moines Register reports, “Businesses and governments that violate the ban could not receive state grants and contracts.”

Republican Governor Will Sign Vaccine Passport Ban

Governor Kim Reynolds (R) tweeted that she is looking forward “to signing this important legislation into law.”

Last month Reynolds called for the state of Iowa to “take a stand” against vaccine passports.

“I strongly oppose vaccine passports, and I believe that we must take a stand as a state against them, which I intend to do either through legislation or executive action,” she said.

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Reynolds also noted that vaccination should be a personal choice and suggested issuing vaccine passports would create a “two-tiered society.”

Red States Banning Vaccine Passports

Reynolds is set to join Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in their effort to prohibit the requirement of proving one’s vaccination status to live freely.

Abbott argued that the use of such papers or electronic apps would be an unacceptable infringement on Texans’ rights, tweeting, “Don’t tread on our personal freedoms.”

DeSantis concurred saying, “In Florida, your personal choice regarding vaccinations will be protected and no business or government entity will be able to deny you services based on your decision.”

A recent report by Axios indicates many private businesses and even some states throughout the country “are plowing ahead with methods of verifying that people have been vaccinated, despite conservative resistance to ‘vaccine passports.'”

New York, for example, launched the Excelsior Pass, a phone app that displays a digital code proving the person is vaccinated against COVID-19.

It is currently being used in dozens of venues across the state.

A recent survey indicates only 46 percent of Americans approve of requiring vaccinated people to carry their passports with them.

This piece originally appeared in ThePoliticalInsider.com and is used by permission.

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