Mayor wants Sacramento to require vaccine or regular COVID testing for city employees
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg wants to require city employees to either provide proof of vaccination or be subject to weekly COVID-19 tests, mirroring the policy Gov. Gavin Newsom announced earlier this week for state workers.
“I believe strongly that this idea is also the right idea for the city of Sacramento and its workforce,” Steinberg said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Steinberg asked the city manager’s office to draft a policy, and called for the city to begin collective bargaining conversations with the necessary labor unions “right away.” He asked that the item be brought before the council for consideration over the next week.
“The city should lead the way. If we cannot mandate the vaccinations across the city because of the FDA problem, we can certainly model the kind of action and behavior that we know is necessary to finally put this dreadful period of time, and all this suffering, behind us.”
The “FDA problem” is referring to a legal gray area regarding the COVID-19 vaccines having emergency use authorization but not full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Some have argued this means governments, employers and other entities cannot yet impose a full-on mandate; however, the University of California and California State University systems have already done so for the approaching fall semester, with the CSU announcing this week it would not wait for full FDA approval.
What Newsom announced earlier this week and what Steinberg is proposing fall shy of full-on mandates, but would introduce strong incentive for employees: either get vaccinated, or face more rigorous COVID-19 protocols.
Sacramento wouldn’t be the first California city to do so. San Francisco and Long Beach this week also introduced a vaccine-or-regular-testing requirement for city employees.
Newsom on Monday announced California will require state employees, as well as health care workers in both the public and private sectors, to either show proof of vaccination or be subject to mandatory testing at least once a week. Those who are not fully vaccinated will also be required to wear masks in indoor work settings. There is no self-attestation option.
“I don’t believe this is about individual rights, and certainly individual rights are not absolute,” Steinberg said. “They must be balanced against the health and safety for all people in any particular workforce and the community at large.”
Steinberg also cited Sacramento County’s relatively low vaccination rate in adding urgency to the matter. State health data updated Tuesday show about 48% of county residents are fully vaccinated, compared to about 53% statewide.
“This is crazy-making,” the mayor said of the local rate.
This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 10:09 AM.
