Written by Don Byrd
The Texas Legislature may try to take on the contraception mandate controversy with the state’s tax code. HB 649 would offer tax breaks for businesses that are fined by the federal government for refusing to provide contraception coverage on religious grounds.
Courthouse News Service has more:
HB 649 would exempt businesses that invoke religious reasons from all state taxes if they are forced to pay punitive fines for violating the contraception mandate.
To qualify for the exemption, a business must provide employees with a health insurance plan, must refuse to cover emergency contraception under Obamacare, must have been fined after Jan. 1, 2013, for failure to comply and must have paid the fine.
“Exempting them from state taxes is the least we can do to help them weather this storm,” Stickland said in his statement. “I hope other states follow suit and I hope the courts step up to protect religious liberty and strike down this unconstitutional mandate.”
Would a bill targeting only religious reasons, with the explicit purpose of undermining a federal law, be constitutional?
