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30 STATES WITH VACCINE BILLS NEEDING YOUR ACTION - FEBRUARY 7, 2017

NVIC

2/7/17

We have only finished the first full month of the 2017 legislative session, and already we are tracking 103 vaccine related bills across 30 states on the NVIC Advocacy Portal. To put the sheer volume of bills in perspective, we tracked a total of 106 bills in the entire legislative session last year. If you live in one of the following states, there are already vaccine bills filed that can affect your rights (states listed in red are new since our last update): AR, AZ, CT, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OK, OR, PA, RI, SD, TN, TX, VA, and WA.

The following states are priority opposition alert state as they now have bills to restrict or eliminate vaccine exemptions: AR(withdrawn), CT, IA, MN, NY, OK, PA, and TX.

The following states are priority support alert states as they now have bills to add or expand vaccine exemptions: HI, IA, MS (died), NJ, NY, OK, RI, and TX.

If you are in any of the following states, beware that there are bills filed to expand vaccine tracking or eliminate OPT-IN Consent for vaccine tracking and that these need to be opposed: CT, ID, KS, MA, MT, NY, and TX.

RECENT WINS IN VA CAN HELP AZ, IN, KS, KY, ME, NY, OK, OR and TX DEFEAT BAD BILLS

Congratulations to the families in Virginia for recently stopping 3 bad bills! Virginia NVIC State Director Kathi Williams expresses her gratitude for everyone who came together to educate legislators.

Both HB 1533 and SB 1519 would have mandated meningitis vaccines. Fortunately an education of legislators by NVIC and Virginia families from around the state helped contribute to failure of the meningitis vaccine mandate bills to move forward. Currently, the following states have bad bills to mandate meningitis vaccines: IN, KS, KY, ME, and OR. Two things that may help residents of those states to fight these meningitis vaccine mandate bills are 1) NVIC Handout on Meningococcal Disease and the Vaccine 2) The NVIC Advocacy Team Action Alert against (Found on http://NVICAdvocacy.org on the Virginia State Team Page under Expired Alerts).

The other bad bill defeated in Virginia, SB 1028, would have required vaccine exemption rates to be posted publically by each school. NVIC issued an emergency email action alert. This bill was so offensive to NVIC President and Co-Founder Barbara Loe Fisher that she talked to the bill author herself, and the bill author withdrew the bill voluntarily.

We opposed this bill and others like it that have come before it because they have nothing to do with health. These bills are part of a documented political strategy used by forced vaccination supporters to instigate a hostile community environment against those using exemptions to lead to the removal of vaccine exemptions.

From Milbank Quarterly “Power and persuasion in the vaccine debates: an analysis of political efforts and outcomes in the United States, 1998-2012”, September 9, 2014.

“Immunization supporters thus could do more to highlight the sympathetic figures on their side, such as immune-compromised children who rely on herd immunity, or unvaccinated people who contracted vaccine-preventable diseases and regret not being vaccinated…”

For example, a bill could require that schools and day care centers publicly post or distribute to parents the percentage of students with vaccine exemptions or the percentage of staff who have received a flu shot or whooping cough booster, as news coverage of disease outbreaks has raised public awareness about the unvaccinated. Although these numbers already have been collected, their public release would generate the news coverage and scrutiny that have proved helpful in the West Coast’s legislative changes.”

Families in the states of AZ, NY, OK need to work hard to defeat the following bills which authorize the public release of vaccine exemption rates or numbers by individual schools:

AZ: SB 1509, NY: S2955 and A3912, OK: SB177. Families in Texas need to be on the lookout for a similar bill to be filed as referenced in recent vaccine proponent newsletters.

Even though bills like these do not authorize the public release of individually identifiable information, the numbers of children utilizing exemptions in many schools are so small that this group of bills puts the exposure of their identity at risk. This would be considered a FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) violation.

From the US Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center’s FAQ on Disclosure Avoidance:

“Some risk of disclosure does remain, however, in circumstances where one or more students possess a unique or uncommon characteristic (or a combination of characteristics) that would allow them to be identified in the data table (this commonly occurs with small ethnic subgroup populations), or where some easily observable characteristic corresponds to an unrelated category in the data table…

…Under FERPA, educational agencies and institutions reporting or releasing data derived from education records are responsible for protecting PII (personally identifiable information) in the reports from disclosure. The U.S. Department of Education also states, in reporting achievement results under section 1111(h) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), to “not use disaggregated data for one or more subgroups… to report achievement results… if the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student”

Vaccination status and school vaccine exemptions are part of a child’s CONFIDENTIAL medical record and PRIVATE SCHOOL information. Bills like these, as shown by the use of this data in California, lead to the elimination of the personal belief exemption and direct the focus of parents on those with vaccine exemptions and instigates witch hunts into the identity of the small number of students with exemptions. Children and families utilizing vaccine exemptions that have had their vaccine exemption status revealed have experienced bullying, harassment and threats in this environment.

NVIC has consistently opposed public release of school exemption numbers since these types of bills first appeared in CO and VT in 2014. We opposed and helped defeat OR SB 895A and TX HB 2474 in 2015. We opposed AZ HB 2527 and MI SB 259 and MI SB 260 in 2016 and fortunately these bills were defeated as well. We will continue to ask our members to oppose these types of bills.

BILLS THAT NEED YOUR ACTION IN 30 STATES

There are literally over 100 bills filed that need your support or opposition! PLEASE LOG IN TO http://NVICAdvocacy.org for more detailed information including links to the bills themselves. Please understand that we are analyzing bills and updating the NVIC Advocacy Portal multiple times a day and this information changes daily so log in often. Use this resource to find out what is going on in your state and what you can do to help.

Please forward this email to friends and family.

Here is a breakdown of the types of bills filed that we are tracking as of 2/7/17. Please note NVIC is opposed to the types of bills highlighted in red text and we support the types of bills in green text.

EXEMPTIONS AND INFORMED CONSENT

Restricting Vaccine Exemptions	CT, IA, MN, NY, OK, TX
Eliminating Vaccine Exemptions	AR, NY, OK, PA
Required School Exemption Disclosure	AZ, NY, OK, VA
Expand Vaccine Exemptions	HI, IA, ID, MS, NJ, NY, OK, RI, TN, TX
Protecting Vaccine Delay and Refusal from Child Abuse Claims	OR
Add to Who Can Sign Medical Exemptions	TX
Prohibit Docs from Throwing Exempting Patients out	TX
Forced Detention and Treatment on Suspicion of Vaccine Preventable Disease	NY
Expand Vaccine Informed Consent	OR, TX
Granting Minor Children Consent Authority for Certain Vaccines Without Parents	NY, TX
Granting School Nurses Vaccine Consent Authority for Homeless Children	WA

MANDATES

Adds New Vaccine Mandates	CT, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MO, MT, NJ, NY, OR, VA
Restricting Vaccine Mandates	MS, NH, NJ
Prevents Vaccine Mandates for Adults	MS
Requires Children of Foster Parents to be Vaccinated with no exemptions	AZ

VACCINE TRACKING AND REPORTING

Eliminates OPT-IN Consent for Vaccine Tracking	MT, TX
Expands Vaccine Tracking	CT, ID, KS, MA, MT, NY, TX
Alters Vaccine Board Positions	ME
Requires Public Schools to Conduct Health Visits to Private School Students	IA

VACCINES

Prohibits Certain Ingredients in Vaccines	MO
Requires Vaccine Promotion/Marketing	GA, IL, NE, TN, TX
Permits Pharmacists Administer More Vaccines	HI, IN, KS, KY, MT, NY, SD

INDIVIDUAL BILLS WE ARE TRACKING AS OF 2/7/17 (note you must be registered and logged in to see the specific information about the bills in your state)

State	Bill	Position	Status	Title
AR	HB 1043	OPPOSE	Withdrawn by the sponsor on 1/11/2017	Eliminates religious and philosophical belief exemptions to vaccination
AZ	SB 1509	OPPOSE	Referred to the Senate Committees on Education and Rules on 2/1/2017	Requires public and charter schools to post vaccination rates on their website
AZ	SB 1268	OPPOSE	Referred to Senate Committees Rules and HHS	Requires parents to have their natural born children vaccinated in order to be a foster parent
CT	HB 6971	OPPOSE	Referred to the Joint Committee on Health 1/26/2017	Requires state mandated education in order to use a religious belief exemption to vaccination
CT	HB 6700	OPPOSE	Referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health 1/24/2017	Mandates annual flu vaccines for child care providers
CT	HB 6485	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/23/2017 and referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health	Expand the current vaccine registry/tracking system to include all children up to age 18
CT	SB 439	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to the Joint Committee on Health 1/19/17	Expands the vaccine registry/tracking system to include up to age 18, require reports
CT	HB 6016	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/19/17 and referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health	Provides local health directors with real-time access to the immunization registry/tracking system
GA	HB 198	OPPOSE	Introduced on 2/01/2017 and referred to the House Education Committee	Requires school districts to provide information about flu vaccines
HI	HB 676	OPPOSE	Referred to House Committee on Rules on 1/25 hearing scheduled for 2/7/2017	Allows pharmacists to administer HPV Vaccine to children
HI	HB 779	SUPPORT	Referred to House Committees on Health and Judiciary on 1/25/17	Establishes a philosophical belief exemption to vaccination, allows for in house quarantine
IA	SF 138	OPPOSE	Referred to Senate Education Subcommittee 1/27/2017	Requires school districts to conduct health and safety visits for children under private instruction
IA	HF 7	SUPPORT	Introduced and referred to the House Human Resources Committee 1/17/2017	Adds a personal conviction exemption to vaccination
IA	SF 116	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/24/17 and referred to the Senate Human Resources Committee	Requires the signature of a religious leader for a religious belief exemption to vaccination
ID	SB 1050	SUPPORT	Introduced on 2/7/2017	Clarifies parents can submit their own statement of exemption for religious or other grounds
ID	HB 91	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to the House Health and Welfare Committee 2/2/2017	Expands the Idaho Immunization Information System/vaccine tracking system
IL	SB 741	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to assignments on 1/30/2017	Mandatory flu vaccines for health care personnel
IL	HB 679	WATCH	Introduced 1/25/2017 and referred to the rules committee	Requires the health dept. to develop an informational flyer on meningococcal disease
IN	HB 1069	OPPOSE	Passed full House on 1/31/2017	Mandates meningitis vaccines for college students
IN	SB 51	OPPOSE	Passed full Senate on 1/30/17, to be considered in the House next	Adds new vaccines that pharmacists can administer to children without consent in an emergency
IN	SB 339	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/9/2017 and referred to the Senate Committee on Health and Provider Services	Mandates meningitis vaccine for college students
IN	SB 133	OPPOSE	Referred to Committee on Health & Provider Services, first reading on 1/4	Vaccine mandates for hospital workers
KS	HB 2121	OPPOSE	Passed the House Committee on Health & Human Services 2/3/17	Requires all vaccines administered to be reported to the vaccine registry/tracking system
KS	HB 2030	OPPOSE	Passed the House Committee on Health and Human Services on1/31/17	Allows pharmacists to administer any vaccine to children 6 years or older
KS	HB 2205	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to the House Health and Human Services Committee 1/30/2017	Mandates Meningitis Vaccines
KY	HB 147	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/5/2017	Vaccine mandates for college students
KY	SB 101	WATCH	Introduced on 1/5/17, referred to Senate Health & Welfare Committee on 1/7/17	Expands current law allowing pharmacist to administer vaccines to children to include 9 to 17 years
MA	SD 1509	OPPOSE	Filed on 1/20/2017	Expands the current vaccine registry/tracking system to include vision screening
ME	LD 456/HP 323	WATCH	Introduced and Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development 2/7/2017	Allows pharmacists to administer all ACIP recommended vaccines to children 11 and older
ME	LD 272/HP 205	OPPOSE	LD 272 was referred to the House Committee on Health & Human Services on 1/31	Mandates Meningitis Vaccine for 11 to 20 year olds
ME	LD 161/HP 119	WATCH	Introduced and referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services 1/19/17	Removes the Secretary of State from the Maine Vaccine Board
MN	HF 96/SF 143	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to House Health & Human Services Reform & Senate Health and Human Services	Changes conscientious belief exemption to personal belief exemption, requires physician statement
MO	SB 117	OPPOSE	Hearing held in Senate Health and Pensions Committee on 1/18/17	Mandates flu vaccines for employees and volunteers of health services facilities
MO	HB 331	WATCH	Introduced 1/4/2017	Restricts use of vaccines containing metal preservatives
MO	HB 332	WATCH	Introduced 1/4/2017	Restricts the use of vaccines containing foreign human DNA
MS	HB 1456	SUPPORT	Died in Committee on 1/31/2017	Expands and protects medical exemptions to vaccination in MS
MS	HB 1439	SUPPORT	Died in Committee on 1/31/2017	Establishes a conscientious belief exemption to vaccination
MS	HB 88	SUPPORT	Died in Committee on 1/31/2017	Establishes the right of adults to determine whether to receive any vaccine, provides protections
MS	HB 1068	SUPPORT	Died in Committee on 1/31/2017	Eliminates the requirement that hospitals administer hepatitis b vaccine to newborns
MS	SB 2636/HB 1457	SUPPORT	HB 14 57 died in Committee on 1/31/2017	Provides for religious and philosophical belief exemptions to vaccination
MT	HB 177	OPPOSE	Transmitted to Senate on 1/26/17	Adds pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to the list of vaccines pharmacists can administer
MT	HB 293	OPPOSE	Referred to the House Human Services Committee, hearing scheduled on 2/1/2017	Changes vaccine registry/tracking system from opt-in to opt-out
NE	LB267	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/11/17, Referred to Health and Human Services Committee on 1/13/17	Requires nursing facilities to offer employees and residents flu vaccines unless contraindicated
NH	HB 362	SUPPORT	Referred to the House Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee, Hearing on 1/24/17	Prohibits school vaccine requirements for diseases noncommunicable in schools including hepatitis b
NH	HB 361	SUPPORT	Referred to the House Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee, Hearing on 1/24/17	Removes the authority of the health dept. commissioner to adopt rules on child vaccines
NJ	A169	WATCH	Introduced on 1/27/2016 and referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee, not moving	Makes changes to exemptions to vaccination
NJ	A2647	OPPOSE	Introduced and sent to the Health and Human Services Committee	Mandates HPV Vaccines for students in grades six through 12
NJ	A520	SUPPORT	Introduced 1/27/2016 and referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee	Exempts children under 6 from hepatitis b vaccine requirement if the mother tests negative
NY	S2955/A3912	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to the House and Senate Education Committees	Requires school district reporting of vaccine exemptions by school to Education Department for public
NY	A2469	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/20/2017 and referred to the Assembly Health Committee	Allows health care practitioners to administer HPV/Hep B Vaccines to minors without parental consent
NY	S3941/A3899	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/30/17 and referred to Health Committees	Adds lead blood testing data to the vaccine registry/tracking system
NY	S3546	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to the Senate Health Committee on 1/24/2017	Requires a physician signature for a religious belief exemption to vaccination
NY	A680	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/9/2017 and referred to the Assembly Committee on Health	Detention of individuals and groups posing a public health threat
NY	S52, A1810	OPPOSE	Introduced and referred to the Senate and Assembly Health Committee	Eliminates the religious belief exemption to vaccination
NY	A439	OPPOSE	Introduced 1/9/2017 and referred to the Assembly Committee on Health	Expands forced detainment and treatment to include vaccine preventable diseases
NY	A1230	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/11/17 and referred to the Assembly Committee on Health	Mandate flu vaccine for children attending daycare
NY	A933	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/9/2017 and referred to the Assembly Committee on Health	Mandate HPV Vaccine
NY	A738	OPPOSE	Introduced 1/9/2017 and referred to the Assembly Committee on Health	Mandate vaccines for employees working in children's camps
NY	S1043	WATCH	Introduced on 1/6/2017 and referred to the Senate Higher Education Committee	Allows pharmacy interns to administer vaccines
NY	S601	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/4/2017 and referred to Senate Health Committee	Requires a mandatory protocol be established for all children's religious belief exemptions
NY	S163	SUPPORT	Introduced 1/4/2017 and referred to Senate Health Committee	Strengthens and expands existing medical exemptions to vaccination
NY	S570	OPPOSE	Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee on 1/4/2017	Allows pharmacist to administer flu vaccines to children 9 years and older
NY	S132	OPPOSE	Prefiled and referred to Senate Health 1/4/2017	Mandates HPV Vaccine
NY	S44	OPPOSE	Prefiled and referred to the Senate Health Committee 1/4/2017	Makes changes to existing law concerning reporting of adult vaccines
OK	SB 831	SUPPORT	Second reading on 2/7/2017 and referred to Senate Committee on Health & Human Services	Requires parental notification of exemptions by school boards, amends current quarantine law
OK	SB 632	OPPOSE	Second reading on 2/7/2017 and referred to Senate Committee on Education	Requires students in state care to be vaccinated with no exemptions
OK	HB 1386/SB 808	SUPPORT	SB 808: Second reading on 2/7/2017 and referred to Senate Committee on Health and Human Services	Enacts the Parental Rights Vaccine Act
OK	SB 725	OPPOSE	Second reading on 2/7/2017 and referred to Senate Committee on Education	Requires schools districts to report exemptions, gives Health and Ed Dept. rule making authority
OK	SB 177	SUPPORT	Second reading on 2/7/2017 and referred to Senate Committee on Education	Requires notification of available exemptions to vaccination be given to parents by school boards
OK	SB 83	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/4/2017, first reading 2/6/2017	Eliminates conscientious and religious belief exemptions to vaccination
OR	SB 687	SUPPORT	Referred to the Senate Committees on Human Services and Health Care on 2/6/2017	Clarifies in state law that not vaccinating or delaying vaccination is not child abuse
OR	SB 274	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/9/17; Referred to Senate Committee on Education on 1/17/17	New mandates for colleges concerning vaccines
OR	SB 580	SUPPORT	Introduced on 1/9/17; Referred to Senate Committee on Health Care on 1/17/17	Require vaccine providers to inform parents of vaccines required for school and of exemptions
OR	SB 579	SUPPORT	Introduced on 1/9/17; Referred to Senate Committee on Health Care on 1/17/17	New informed consent requirements for health care providers administering vaccines to children
PA	SB 217	OPPOSE	Introduced on 1/26/2017 and referred to the Senate Education Committee	Eliminates exemptions for strong moral and ethical convictions
RI	SB 47	SUPPORT	Introduced on 1/18/2017	Adds a personal belief exemption to vaccination
SD	HB 1043	OPPOSE	Tabled in Committee on Health and Human Services, died	Allows Pharmacists to administer vaccines, sets up new board to adopt rules pertaining to vaccines
TN	HB 272	SUPPORT	Introduced and assigned to Education Administration & Planning Subcommittee, 2/3/17	Concerning a statement of religious exemption for meningococcal vaccine for college students
TN	HB 388	OPPOSE	Filed for introduction on 2/2/2017	Requires schools to provide information on flu and flu vaccines every school year
TX	SB 431	WATCH	Introduced and referred to Senate Committee on Health & Human Services on 1/6/2017	Allows advanced practice registered nurses to sign medical exemptions
TX	HB 1124	SUPPORT	Filed on 1/18/2017	Requires the health dept. to make exemption affidavits available on their website and in schools
TX	HB 1070	SUPPORT	Introduced on 1/17/17	Prohibits health care providers from refusing to treat patients who refuse vaccination
TX	HB 1029	SUPPORT	Introduced on 1/13/2017	Adds additional informed consent requirements for health care providers administering vaccines
TX	SB 54	OPPOSE	Referred to Senate Committee on Health & Human Services on 1/24/17	REMOVES current protection in law for consent before any information is put into the registry
TX	HB 243	OPPOSE	Introduced on 11/14/2016	REMOVES current protection in law for consent before any information is put into the registry
TX	HB 241	OPPOSE	Introduced on 11/14/2016	RESTRICTS conscientious/religious exemptions, requires health care practitioner counselling
TX	HB 120	OPPOSE	Introduced on 11/14/2016	Removes conscientious and religious belief exemption language, replaces with non-medical
TX	HB 97	OPPOSE	Introduced on 11/14/2016	ELIMINATES parental consent by allowing child consent to HPV vaccine as cancer prevention treatment
TX	HB 126	OPPOSE	Introduced on 11/14/2016	Restricts conscientious/religious exemptions, requires completion of education module and adds fee
TX	HB 107	OPPOSE	Introduced on 11/14/2016	REQUIRES the health dept. to produce an annual report on HPV Vaccine statistics for every TX county
VA	HB 1533	OPPOSE	Subcommittee Failed to recommend reporting 1/24/2017.	Mandates meningitis vaccine for students before entering sixth grade
VA	SB 1519	OPPOSE	Senate: Stricken at request of patron in Education and Health (13-Y 0-N) 1/26/2017	Mandates meningitis vaccine for students before entering sixth grade
VA	SB 1028	OPPOSE	Stricken at request of patron in Education and Health on 1/19/2017	Require posting of immunization rates by schools
WA	HB 1641	OPPOSE	Scheduled for executive session in the House Judiciary Committee on 2/9/2017	Allows school nurses and counselors to consent to vaccination for homeless youth

Sincerely,

NVIC Advocacy Team

National Vaccine Information Center

http://NVIC.org and http://NVICAdvocacy.org

https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Members/ContactUs.aspx

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) works diligently to prepare and disseminate our legislative advocacy action alerts and supporting materials. We request that organizations and members of the public forward our alerts in their original form to assure consistent and accurate messaging and effective action. Please acknowledge NVIC as originators of this work when forwarding to members of the public and like-minded organizations. To receive alerts immediately, register at http://NVICAdvocacy.org, a website dedicated to this sole purpose and provided as a free public service by NVIC.

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