To prohibit any entity that receives Federal funds from the COVID relief packages from mandating employees receive a COVID–19 vaccine, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Biggs of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill prohibits any business or organization that received federal COVID-19 relief funding from requiring their employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine. If an employer violates this rule, they must return all COVID relief funds they received to the federal government. The bill applies retroactively to funds from six major COVID relief laws passed in 2020 and 2021, including the CARES Act, PPP, and American Rescue Plan.
Who Benefits and How
Employees who oppose COVID-19 vaccination benefit directly, as their employers would be prohibited from requiring vaccines as a condition of employment if those employers received federal relief funds.
Employers who never implemented vaccine mandates face no new burden and may benefit from clarity that vaccine requirements are prohibited for COVID relief recipients.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Businesses that received COVID relief and implemented vaccine mandates face severe financial consequences. They would be required to return all federal relief funds received - potentially hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars - retroactively. This creates significant financial liability for companies that followed public health guidance at the time.
Federal agencies that administered COVID relief programs (SBA, Treasury) would face administrative burden of enforcing compliance, investigating violations, and processing fund returns.
Taxpayers indirectly bear enforcement costs, though they would also receive returned funds from violating entities.
Key Provisions
- Vaccine Mandate Prohibition: Entities that received any federal COVID relief funds cannot mandate COVID-19 vaccines for employees
- Full Fund Clawback: Violators must return the entire amount of COVID relief funds received to the federal government
- Broad Relief Coverage: Applies to recipients of six major COVID relief laws: CARES Act, Coronavirus Preparedness Act, Families First Act, PPP Enhancement Act, Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, and American Rescue Plan
- Retroactive Application: The prohibition applies to relief funds already distributed, not just future funding
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Prohibits COVID-19 vaccine mandates by entities that received federal COVID relief funding and requires return of funds for violations
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Retroactively restrict vaccine mandate authority for past COVID relief recipients and create financial penalty for non-compliance"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Employers who received COVID relief funds and oppose vaccine mandates
- Employees who oppose COVID-19 vaccination
Likely Burden Bearers
- Employers who implemented vaccine mandates and received COVID relief
- Federal agencies administering COVID relief funds
- Public health authorities
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Any of the following: CARES Act (Public Law 116–136), Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–123), Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116–127), Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 116–139), Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260), American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117–2)
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology