Arizona Governor Doug Ducey faces off against Tucson Mayor over vaccine mandates

To mandate or not to mandate? That is the question — as Tucson City Council passed an ordinance demanding city employees get the COVID jab, whereas Governor Doug Ducey seeks to make that obsolete at the state level.

Mayor Regina Romero stands by demanding city employees show proof of vaccination in order to work. Governor Ducey’s executive order claims the opposite.

According to KGUN 9 in Tucson, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey published an executive order that disputes vaccine mandates put out by local governments.

In this case referring to the Tucson City Council that is requiring public sector employees to get the jab by August 24th. It was last Friday that local officials decided to require staff to show proof of vaccination, establishing that they’ve had at least one dose.

The penalty for not meeting the deadline is being suspended five days without pay.

Fast forward to this week, and we have Ducey describing these mandates as a form of discrimination.

The executive order calls it a class 3 misdemeanor for local authorities to contradict Arizona’s state-level stance being against vaccine mandates. It also asserts dominance over any previous mandates enacted prior to the E.O.

More on the Governor’s website:

• "Any county, city, town or political subdivision official that implements a vaccine mandate contrary to the authorities outlined in this order, is in violation of A.R.S. 36-114 and 36-184 and such actions are punishable by a class 3 misdemeanor and subject to legal action by individuals for violation of their rights under Arizona law; and"
• "Any county, city, town or political subdivision official that fails to provide earned sick leave to an employee if it is recommended that the employee stay home due to exposure to COVID-19, is in violation of the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act and action may be taken by individuals pursuant to the Act in the courts or through the Industrial Commission."

In response to Ducey’s executive order, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero published a response. She accuses the governor of setting a standard that’d let COVID "spread uncontrollably," and calls Doug’s E.O. "legally meaningless" in light of the earlier decision made by the Mayor’s office.

"Governor Ducey must stop prioritizing his political aspirations over the health and well-being of Arizonians. We have seen the deadly repercussions of similar approaches by the Governors of Texas and Florida, yet Governor Ducey is consciously deciding to head down the same path knowing full well what the consequences are. Governor Ducey is playing a deadly game of one-upmanship that will lead to preventable hospitalizations and deaths."

For Arizona’s part they previously banned vaccine passports back in April and two months later forbade mandates for public college and university students.

However, there’s variance to the state-by-state approach for COVID vaccine passports. In New York City, as of August 17th, officials have outlined a specific list of public venues where civilians will have to show their digital papers in order to have access.