‘Absolutely, positively infuriating.’ COVID vaccine rule locks out 2 Tri-Cities lawmakers

A Tri-Cities lawmaker won’t be allowed to use state House of Representative facilities in Olympia until at least early January.

Rep. Brad Klippert, R-Kennewick, said it’s “absolutely, positively infuriating” to get shut out of the public facilities because he refuses to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Klippert, a Benton County sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer, is one of 26 legislators who have not submitted their vaccination status under a new rule adopted late last month by the Executive Rules Committee.

The rule requires legislative staff and lawmakers to show that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It went into effect on Monday, the same day thousands of state employees were required to show they were vaccinated or have an accepted exemption.

Now, Klippert is calling on citizens to reach out to majority leaders in the state House and Senate to call for a special session before January to remove Gov. Jay Inslee’s emergency powers.

Klippert from the 8th District and some other Republican legislators have been pushing for a change in how long the governor can maintain a state of emergency.

But otherwise, the Legislature is not due to reconvene until the new year.

In the mean time, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins told The Associated Press the policy is to “make sure the staff and members on campus are safe.”

The committee that voted on the vaccine requirement includes four Democrats and three Republicans, and the vote was along party lines, according to AP.

Speaker Laurie Jinkins and Reps. Pat Sullivan, Lillian Ortiz-Self and Monica Stonier voted for it, and House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox and Reps. Joel Kretz and Paul Harris were opposed.

Klippert told the Herald he hasn’t gotten the vaccine because it does not stop the spread of the disease. Since it doesn’t stop transmission, he feels it is a personal choice and not a public safety requirement.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccines are effective at keeping people from getting seriously ill if they do get COVID-19.

“People can sometimes get COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated,” according to a CDC information page about the vaccines. “However, this only happens in a small proportion of people, even with the delta variant. When these infections occur among vaccinated people, they tend to be mild.”

But Klippert said that he doesn’t oppose people getting the vaccine, he is more frustrated with it being mandated.

“I do not support that the governor and the chief clerk of the hour requiring me to be vaccinated,” he said. “There are three branches of government. .... Right now, the executive branch is calling all of the shots. It’s unacceptable and cannot continue.”

Rep. Skyler Rude, R-Walla Walla, from the 16th District, also has not turned in his verification. He said that he has gotten the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, but did not receive the second.

The 16th District stretches from Walla Walla, wraps around the Kennewick and Richland, and extends to Prosser.

While he is working from his district office at the moment, he said he’s concerned what could happen if the restriction continues when the 2022 session starts.

“I’m troubled by it now, but I would be much more troubled by it if that rule stayed in place in January,” he told the Herald.

He said it would create two classes of legislators — those who can participate in person and those who can’t.

“After going through this last Legislative session, there are many disadvantages to virtual over in-person,” he said. “It would disadvantage the constituents of those people.”

He also is concerned that the decision was effectively made by four Democrats rather than the entire House.

Next steps

Klippert, who announced his intent to run against U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse in 2022, was one of several representatives to submit legislation to curtail the governor’s emergency powers.

He maintains those powers were never intended for this long of a period of time. And the effort will continue in the next session, he said.

Governor’s officials have said the restrictions have saved lives and that efforts to change them are “misguided.”

“There is no one causing more harm than Jay Inslee and he must be stopped,” Klippert said. “There is no bigger enemy to the citizens of the state of Washington than him.”

Mike Faulk, deputy communications director with the governor’s office, said the use of the governor’s emergency powers “has saved thousands of lives in Washington throughout the pandemic.”

“We have used every tool at our disposal to protect the public and we will continue to focus on the single most effective tool to end this pandemic — vaccination,” he said.

This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.