State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity) is proposing legislation to prevent businesses and institutions from targeting individuals based on their vaccination status, with a pre-filed bill ahead of the 2026 legislative session.
Yarbrough filed the bill late in the 2025 session, with support coming from both local and national sources, including Washington, D.C. Heather Moore, the wife of U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), appeared at the Alabama State House and spoke alongside Yarbrough and other state lawmakers in support of the bill.
SEE: U.S. Rep. Moore’s wife joins state lawmakers to push for vaccine, face mask refusal bill
With the limited time in the session, it never reached the finish line.
Now, Yarbrough has early pre-filed the legislation for lawmakers to debate and vote on in 2026.
Yarbrough’s House Bill 12 (HB12), also known as the Alabama Conscientious Right to Refuse Act, prohibits employers and other entities from retaliating against or discriminating against individuals who refuse to receive vaccines or wear facial coverings.
“It was brought to my attention, actually, by my constituents, because there were people in my district whose funeral I had to go to, they were super healthy people, world famous photographers, and other folks who were really good at their job, married with a beautiful kids, beautiful family, climbing mountains, world traveler, gets the shot, and not long afterwards, gets breast cancer,” Yarbrough said. “They did everything they could to save her life and she died. I was already having concerns about the whole vaccine schedule and the influence of big Pharma on what goes into our bodies, because if you look at the vaccine schedule when I was a kid to now, it has ballooned out of control. And there are many reasons to suspect that what’s driving the medical industry and the vaccine schedules is not our health, but money and power.
“I believe that all of those things should be an option for individuals to make that decision between them and their doctors, and it’s our job to protect those under our care," he added.
The restrictions on discrimination based on vaccination status would apply to employers, places of public accommodation, hospitals, health insurers and licensing boards.
The prohibition on facial coverings does not apply to surgical masks used during surgical, medical or dental procedures.
The bill would also prohibit state licensing boards from refusing, denying or revoking licenses due to an applicant's or licensee’s vaccination status.
The bill’s provisions create legal protections and recourse for those who are discriminated against, including authorizing the attorney general to prosecute state entities and defend a citizen against attempted reprisal from the federal government.
“We have to protect individual Alabama citizens and businesses from these vaccine mandates,” Yarbrough continued. “The core concept of the bill is that we're not going to use vaccines to determine participation in society, we're not going to use vaccines at all as a means to herd or corral people, to get them fired or hired; we’re going to let the individuals of our state and their doctors make that decision.”
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