SACRAMENTO (KRON) — A controversial bill that would limit a parent’s right not to vaccinate a child got one step closer to becoming a law on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 277, authored by Senator Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, would require students at public and private schools in California to be vaccinated for 10 common childhood diseases unless there was a medical reason they could not receive the vaccination.
As the law stands, there is a personal belief exemption from the state’s vaccination requirements for students.
SB 277 passed the state’s Senate Education Committee 7-2.
The bill was introduced following a measles outbreak within the state. The outbreak that started at Disneyland in December infected more than 130 people statewide.
The bill has drawn support from San Francisco and Marin County supervisors, physicians’ groups and school districts but organized opponents continue to argue that there are doubts about whether vaccinations are completely safe and effective. If the law passed, opponents argue it would erode parental rights.
Because of those concerns, and to strike a balance between students’ right to an education and health concerns for the population, the bill was amended today to expand home school and independent study options for unvaccinated children.
As the proposed bill stands, unvaccinated students will have to be home schooled, go to a multi-family private home school, or use an independent study program.
“Today’s amendments reflect our commitment to increase everyone’s safety against vaccine-preventable diseases while ensuring every child has a place to learn,” Allen said in a statement today.
State Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, who sits on the Senate Education Committee, said today she now supports the bill and believes in the “validity and importance of vaccinations.”
“My concern has always been to ensure that all children have access to educational opportunities,” Hancock said. “I believe that the current bill, as amended, does a good job of balancing the state’s constitutional requirement to provide access to public education with the public health benefits of vaccinations.”
However, some still aren’t happy with the proposal.
Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a social advocacy group that has campaigned for Proposition 8 among other things, wants a religious exemption to the bill and says it denies parents basic rights in decision-making. It claims that if passed, tens of thousands of students could be kicked out of California public schools.
The vaccinations required to attend schools under the bill are diphtheria, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps, pertussis, poliomyelitis, rubella, tetanus, and varicella, commonly known as chickenpox.