Nebraska, Iowa governors react to multi-state lawsuit fighting OSHA vaccine policy

(WOWT) - A day after the governors of Nebraska and Iowa vowed to fight OSHA’s vaccination policy, they commended the work of their respective state officials in signing onto a lawsuit doing just that.

New regulations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandate that companies with more than 100 employees require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested for the virus weekly and wear masks on the job.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts — who has said before that the state would seek an injunction against a federal vaccination mandate — hinted Thursday that the lawsuit, filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was on its way.

The lawsuit argues that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government:

In his statement issued Friday afternoon, Ricketts thanked the state’s attorney general for his involvement in the lawsuit.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds echoed her previous comments about being in favor of COVID-19 vaccinations but Iowans should have a choice — despite the option to regularly test and mask.

Reynolds also quoted the complaint in her news release Friday: “This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise. The federal government lacks constitutional authority under its enumerated powers to issue this mandate, and its attempt to do so unconstitutionally infringes on the States’ powers expressly reserved by the Tenth Amendment.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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