Florida business owners, cities, schools risk hefty fines for defying the governor’s ban on vaccine mandates
When yoga studio owner Ashley Hanna offered additional vaccinated-only classes, she made a list of more than 100 businesses and local governments reported to the state for violating a Florida law against vaccine requirements.
“We’re a small business, and there are some clients who, if we didn’t have these classes, we would lose them,” Hanna said. She owns Titanium Yogo in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Now, Hanna could face over $100,000 in fines.
“I literally thank God that I opened a business in the state of Florida. If we had to shut down for a long time, we would have never made it,” Hanna said. “But I don’t understand this. If I required a vaccine just to walk in the front door, ‘Okay, Ashley, you are defying the governor.’ But that’s not what I did; that’s not what I’m doing.”
In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a measure into law that bans businesses, local governments, and schools from making customers or patrons show proof of vaccination or “post-infection recovery” and imposes fines of up to $5,000 per violation.
Last month, Florida fined Leon County $3.5 million over its vaccine mandate for workers. The county is pushing back against the fine.
