FILE - Jenean Lubinski, center, who works as a patient registration representative at Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, joins others in a demonstration against mandatory vaccinations at the Capitol in Sacramento Aug. 16, 2021. Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks introduced a bill, Friday, Feb. 11, that if approved, would mandate all businesses require their employees and independent contractors to have received a COVID-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
Don ThompsonThe Associated PressSACRAMENTO (AP) – California would mandate that all businesses require their employees and independent contractors to receive the COVID-19 vaccine under legislation announced Friday, Feb. 11, by Democratic state lawmakers that was immediately criticized by Republicans as government overreach.Employees or contractors who qualify for medical or religious exemptions would have to be regularly tested under a planned amendment to the bill. New employees would have to get at least one dose by the time they start work and the second dose within 45 days of being on the job.Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks introduced her bill months after delaying an original proposal last fall. The previous version would have allowed workers to submit to weekly testin
