Amends TCA Title 4; Title 14; Title 39; Title 50; Title 63 and Title 68.

Present law, effective until July 1, 2023, prohibits a governmental entity, school, or local education agency from mandating that a person receive a COVID-19 vaccine or private business or school from requiring proof of vaccination as a condition to access the private business's or school's premises or facilities or to receive the benefits of the private business's or school's products or services. Present law also prohibits a private business, governmental entity, school, or local education agency from compelling or otherwise taking an adverse action against a person to compel the person to provide proof of vaccination if the person objects to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine for any reason. This bill deletes the above provisions and declares it to be an unlawful discriminatory practice for: (1) An individual, public officer, public employee, governmental entity, or other person to refuse, withhold from, or deny to an individual a service, good, facility, access, advantage, privilege, financial aid or benefit, credit, insurance, license, healthcare access, educational opportunity, or employment opportunity based on the individual's vaccination status, the individual's immunity status, or whether the individual has an immunity passport; (2) An employer to refuse employment to an individual, to bar an individual from employment, or to discriminate against an individual in compensation, terms, conditions, locations, rights, immunities, promotions, or privileges of employment based on the individual's vaccination status, the individual's immunity status, or whether the individual has an immunity passport; or (3) A place of public accommodation, resort, or amusement to exclude, limit, segregate, refuse to serve, or otherwise discriminate against an individual based on the individual's vaccination status, the individual's immunity status, or whether the individual has an immunity passport. This bill provides that notwithstanding an individual's inability to provide vaccination status, immunity status, or an immunity passport due to sincerely held religious beliefs, the above provisions do not apply to vaccination requirements set forth for a public school or a private school, nursery school, preschool, or child care facility. This bill further declares that it is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an individual, governmental entity, or employer to require the testing of an individual for a communicable disease who is by a reasonable standard showing no known or perceivable symptoms of a communicable disease. This bill provides that an individual, governmental entity, or employer does not unlawfully discriminate under the above provisions if the individual, entity, or employer recommends that an employee receive a vaccine. A healthcare facility, nursing home, or assisted-care living facility does not unlawfully discriminate under the above provisions if the healthcare facility, nursing home, or assisted-care living facility: (A) Asks an employee to voluntarily provide the employee's vaccination status, immunity status, or immunity passport for the purpose of determining whether the healthcare facility, nursing home, or assisted-care living facility should implement reasonable accommodation measures to protect the safety and health of employees, patients, visitors, and other individuals from communicable diseases. A healthcare facility, nursing home, or assisted-care living facility may consider an employee to be nonvaccinated or nonimmune to a communicable disease if the employee declines to provide the employee's vaccination status, immunity status, or immunity passport to the healthcare facility, nursing home, or assisted-care living facility for purposes of determining whether reasonable accommodation measures should be implemented; and (B) Implements reasonable accommodation measures for employees, patients, visitors, and other individuals who are not vaccinated or not immune to a communicable disease to protect the safety and health of employees, patients, visitors, and other individuals from a communicable disease. An individual injured as a result of a violation of this bill may file a complaint with the human rights commission and is entitled to remedies set forth in present law. This bill adds as a remedy under the human rights statutes the following civil penalties for cases involving discriminatory practices as described in this bill: (1) In an amount not exceeding $10,000 if the respondent has not been adjudged to have committed a prior unlawful discriminatory practice; (2) In an amount not exceeding $25,000 if the respondent has been adjudged to have committed one other unlawful discriminatory practice during the five-year period ending on the date of the filing of the complaint; or (3) In the amount of $50,000 per occurrence if the respondent has been adjudged to have committed two or more unlawful discriminatory practices during the seven-year period ending on the date of the filing of the complaint. If the acts constituting the discriminatory practice that is the object of the complaint are committed by the same natural person who has been previously adjudged to have committed acts constituting an unlawful discriminatory practice, then the civil penalties set forth in (2) and (3) may be imposed without regard to the period of time within which a subsequent discriminatory practice occurred. This bill authorizes the awarding of punitive damages in cases involving discriminatory practices as described in this bill.