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See Corresponding Action Alert for HB 319
UPDATE: 12/11/2024 – HB 319 was reported with favorable passage from the House Health Provider Services Committee by a vote of 7 Yeas, 3 Nays, on 12/11/2024.
UPDATE: 12/5/2024 – HB 319 is scheduled for the 3rd House Health Provider Services Committee hearing, taking testimony from opponents and a possible vote, on Tuesday, 12/10/2024 at 10:00AM in Room 017 in the lower level of the statehouse building. View the hearing agenda and details HERE. You can view the hearing live HERE. You can view the hearing as an archive HERE. Continue to contact the House Health Provider Services Committee members and ask them to SUPPORT HB 319 until a vote is taken.
UPDATE: 6/18/2024 – HB 319 was removed from the hearing agenda in the House Health Provider Services Committee on 6/18/2024. Continue to contact the House Health Provider Services Committee members and ask them to SUPPORT until a vote is taken.
UPDATE: 6/17/2024 – HB 319 is scheduled for the 3rd House Health Provider Services Committee hearing, taking testimony from opponents, on Tuesday, 6/18/2024 at 1:30PM in Room 017 in the lower level of the statehouse building. View the hearing agenda and details HERE. You can view the hearing live HERE. You can view the hearing as an archive HERE. Continue to contact the House Health Provider Services Committee members until a vote is taken.
UPDATE: 6/5/2024 – HB 319 is scheduled for the 2nd House Health Provider Services Committee hearing, taking testimony from proponents, on Tuesday, 6/11/2024 at 4:00 PM in Room 017 in the lower level of the statehouse building. View the hearing agenda and details HERE. You can view the hearing live HERE. You can view the hearing as an archive HERE. Continue to contact the House Health Provider Services Committee members until a vote is taken.
UPDATE: 4/5/2024 – HB 319 is rescheduled for an introductory hearing in the House Health Provider Services Committee on Tuesday, 4/9/2024 at 3:00 PM in Room 017 in the lower level of the statehouse building. View the Hearing Agenda HERE. You can view the hearing live HERE. You can view the hearing as an archive HERE. Continue to contact the House Health Provider Services Committee members until a vote is taken.
UPDATE: 3/27/2024 – HB 319 is scheduled for an introductory hearing in the House Health Provider Services Committee on Tuesday, 4/2/2024 at 1:30 PM in Room 017 in the lower level of the statehouse building. View the Hearing Agenda HERE. You can view the hearing live HERE. You can view the hearing as an archive HERE. Continue to contact the House Health Provider Services Committee members until a vote is taken.
UPDATE: 11/14/2023 - HB 319 was referred to the House Health Provider Services Committee on 11/14/2023.
HB 319 was introduced on 11/8/2023 by Representatives Jennifer Gross and Scott Wiggam, and 31 cosponsors. It is called the Conscientious Right to Refuse Act.
HB 319 would prohibit discrimination for the refusal of medical interventions, including any biologic, vaccine, pharmaceutical, drug, gene editing technology, RNA-based product, or DNA-based product for reasons of conscience, including religious convictions. If an individual believes that a violation has occurred, the individual may petition a court for injunctive relief or bring a private civil action for money damages in a court.
The bill applies to a business, employer, including an administrator or supervisor, health plan issuer, health care provider, hospital, institution, nursing home, person, political subdivision, private college, public official, residential care facility, state agency, or state institution of higher education. These entities would not be able to do any of the following based on an individual's refusal of any biologic, vaccine, pharmaceutical, drug, gene editing technology, RNA-based product, or DNA-based product for reasons of conscience, including religious convictions:
(1) Deny employment to the individual or terminate the individual's employment;
(2) Deny a service, including a public service, to the individual;
(3) Deny the individual access to commerce;
(4) Segregate the individual;
(5) Penalize the individual or use financial coercion against the individual; or
(6) Treat the individual differently than an individual who accepted the medical intervention.
If an individual who petitions for injunctive relief or a declaratory judgment prevails in that petition, the court shall award the individual court costs and reasonable attorney's fees, and three times the amount of the individual's actual damages or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater.
NVIC SUPPORTS Ohio HB 319 because it protects all individuals in Ohio who have conscientious or religious objections to vaccination from being treated differently then their unvaccinated peers. Employers will not be allowed to force unvaccinated to wear a mask because they have declined a vaccine. Doctors wouldn't be able to deny unvaccinated patients life saving health care. The bill protects individuals from discriminatory coercion tactics like higher insurance premiums, loss of raise opportunities, being forced to eat in a separate area, or wearing a badge that indicates they are unvaccinated. Because there is a private right of action in the bill, it is far less likely that the provisions of this bill will be violated by a business out of fear of litigation. NVIC is opposed to all vaccination mandates. Vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry risks of injury and death and should not be a condition for employment or access to health care. An improvement to this bill would be to prohibit all vaccine mandates as well.
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/135/hb319/status - text, status, and history of HB 319
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