PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota House debated a proposal to allow employees to avoid their workplace COVID-19 vaccine requirement by citing any objection of their conscience.

Representative Carl Perry explains his support of this bill.

The bill passed on a 37-30 vote in the Republican-controlled House.

It represented a snub to a separate proposal from Gov. Kristi Noem. That bill would allow employees to avoid mandates by citing either a medical exemption, religious grounds for refusal or a test showing antibodies against COVID-19 in the last six months.

House Speaker Spencer Gosch has clashed with the governor. He pushed the bill as a way to provide broad exemptions from vaccine mandates.