A provision of SB 2 — one of four bills introduced as part of the governor’s campaign against vaccine and mask mandates — would pay unemployment benefits at taxpayers’ expense to workers fired because they refuse required safety protocols to help stem the spread of COVID-19 in workplaces.

The bill will be taken up by the Republican-dominated state legislature during a special session that convenes next week.

Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds late last month signed a similar law providing unemployment benefits for workers in that state who refuse their employers’ requirements that they get COVID vaccines. The law was also passed during a special session, and took effect immediately.