Allen West and Texas Senate Split on COVID Protection Bill for Businesses

Texas GOP Chair Allen West has come out strongly against SB 6, a bipartisan bill passed out of the Senate 29-1 that shields businesses and other institutions from lawsuits if they made a “good faith” effort to follow COVID-19 guidelines.

West and the Texas GOP tweeted in opposition to the bill saying that SB 6 fails to “adequately fortify the rule of law.”

In a statement on the Texas GOP website, West goes on to say, “Texas Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 3659 nobly endeavor to protect businesses during a pandemic, but only at the expense of surrendering essential liberties to government edicts and orders in their business operations. In Texas, individuals — and businesses — are to be governed by the rule of law, not by the whims and orders of an executive. SB 6 and HB 3659 do not support that premise of freedom.”

The bill initially drew criticism from advocates for the elderly who claimed that the bill as written left retirement communities too much latitude to invoke protections for violations committed that had nothing to do with the pandemic. However an amendment offered and eventually added by Sen. Nathan Johnson helped stymie those objections.

West, who has recently came out defending Rep. Biedermann’s Texit bill is rumored to be challenging Gov. Abbott in the Republican primary in 2022.