Governor Greg Abbott has just banned any and all entities from issuing vaccine mandates in the state of Texas via a new executive order:

Abbott is also submitting a request to the Texas legislature to make this law:

I, GREG ABBOTT, Governor of the State of Texas, by the authority vested in me by Article III, Section 40, and Article IV, Section 8, of the Texas Constitution, do hereby present the following additional subject to the 87th Texas Legislature, Third Called Session, for consideration:

Legislation establishing that no entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual, including an employee or a consumer, who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID- 19.

You can read the full executive order here.

This looks to be directly in response to the unfolding disaster at SouthWest Airlines who is based in Dallas, Texas. We reported this morning that they had to cancel 2,000 flights because of staffing shortages that appear to be a result of their vaccine mandate, which went into effect last week.