Print article JUNEAU Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, has proposed new legislation that would forbid businesses, local governments and the state from requiring COVID-19 vaccines. If House Bill 175 becomes law, businesses could not require employees to be vaccinated, and unvaccinated people could not be forbidden from accessing “an area or service that is open to the public.” Similar ideas have been approved by Texas, Missouri, Florida and several other states with Republican-controlled legislatures. Surveys indicate that Republicans are much more reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Carpenter’s bill was introduced Wednesday, after Bering Straits Native Corp. the parent company of Alaska Industrial Hardware said it would require all 2,100 employees to be vaccinated. Some small cruise lines operating in Alaska also require their employees to be vaccinated.