A small town in California is setting itself apart as an independent sanctuary from COVID-19 mandates.
The Oroville city council voted 6-1 to approve a resolution on Nov. 2 that establishes the Sacramento-adjacent town as a constitutional republic to protect the individual’s rights and freedoms, according to media reports.
“It's a deeper question of how much control should the government have over our bodies and, at this point, mandating vaccinations on kids at schools, for me, is crossing the line so, we’re making a stand,” said Scott Thomson, vice mayor of Oroville.
While OSHA's now suspended requirement that employers with a minimum of 100 employees develop, implement and enforce a COVID-19 vaccination policy, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is requiring 17 million health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-10 by Jan. 4 with no option for testing for those who want to opt-out of immunization.
On Nov. 16, OSHA suspended the enforcement of the new rule while it is being challenged in federal appellate court.
The Oroville city council’s resolution creates a path to opt-out of enforcing state or federal orders on their 20,000 residents that the council considers in violation of constitutionally protected rights or that are overreaching.
“More than anything, it's a declaration that we don't agree with the way our government is handling this,” Thomson told the Southern California Record. “Pushing something that does have a risk on everybody is a violation of our freedoms and the sad thing is our country used to be one where we live and let live and where we can agree to disagree. The sense is that this country is being radicalized on both sides and being able to have an open objective discussion doesn’t appear to be happening in our current political climate.”
Not complying with federal or state mandates could cause the city to lose eligibility for funding, however, and Thomson said the city is prepared.
“We did pass our own tax measure in the last election,” he said. “On open.gov, you can see we're doing pretty well financially. We have millions in surplus and not to say that if the state were to cut funding on a specific thing, that it wouldn't hurt our citizens, but, it would be hypocritical if Gov. Newsom did that when San Francisco didn't face any financial repercussions.”
As previously reported, San Francisco was declared a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants in 1989.
“I don't vilify Gavin Newsom,” Thomson added. “I don't think he's the devil. The problem here in America is systemic and it isn't just with Gavin or President Biden, the Republican or the Democrat party. The problem with America is we’re so divided and there's not an open ear to hear each other.”