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UPDATE: 2/25/2024 - HB 5142 died, it failed to be scheduled for a hearing in the House Health and Human Resources Committee before the deadline for bills to be reported from committee in their chamber of origin of 2/25/2024.
HB 5142 was introduced in the House and referred to the House Health and Human Resources Committee on 1/25/2024. This bill is sponsored by House Delegate Laura Kimble.
HB 5142 provides religious and conscientious vaccine exemptions for state employees while prohibiting discrimination. This bill also adds conscientious vaccine exemptions for school and higher education students.
HB 5142 amends Code of West Virginia §5A-1-3, related to the powers and duties of the secretary, division heads, and employees of the Department of Administration, to renumber §5A-1-3 to §5A-1-3(a) and add a new subsection (b) that establishes religious, conscientious, or personal belief exemptions to mandated vaccines for any employee of the agencies and boards included in §5F-2-1 of West Virginia Code. This subsection (b) also prohibits discrimination against employees who exercise their exemption right, including such discriminatory practices as withholding bonuses, pay raises, and promotions.
HB 5142 amends Code of West Virginia §16-3-4, related to compulsory immunization of school children, to repeal subsections (h)(1), (h)(2), (h)(3), (h)(4), and (h)(5). These subsections grant power to the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health and the appointed Immunization Officer to make determinations on vaccine exemption requests to the compulsory vaccine requirements for school children. HB 5142 repeals these subsections and removes the power of the commissioner to revoke vaccine exemptions for school attendance.
HB 5142 also amends Code of West Virginia §16-3-4, related to compulsory immunization of school children, to add new subsection (j) that provides a vaccine exemption option for school children from the required vaccines if the parent or guardian presents the child's school with a notarized certification signed by any parent or legal guardian of the child indicating they object to required vaccines based on conscientious or personal belief objection.
HB 5142 adds a new section of West Virginia Code to be numbered §18B-1-12 "Rights of students to exemptions from compulsory immunizations," that establishes the right of a public college, university, or vocational technical school student to request an exemption from the school's vaccine requirements. The request for exemption must be accompanied by a notarized certification signed by the student or student's parent if the student is a minor, stating that the student has either a conscientious or personal belief objection to the required vaccines.
NVIC SUPPORTS HB 5142 because they provide school students and higher education students the ability to refuse a vaccine they may not want or need that is required by the school. The provisions in this bill are a great improvement for the people of West Virginia who currently do not have any option for religious, conscientious, or personal belief exemptions from school-mandated vaccinations. NVIC opposes all vaccine mandates. Vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry a risk of injury and even death and they should not be a condition of receiving an education. An improvement to this bill would be to establish a religious exemption option for school attendance in grade school and postsecondary education like the provisions provided in this bill for state employees as religious liberties are constitutionally protected rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment and Article III-15 of the Constitution of West Virginia. An even better improvement to this bill would be to prohibit all schools from mandating vaccines.
https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=5142&year=2024&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill - text, status, and history of HB 5142
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