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Board hears legislative update: vaping bill tabled, immunization exemption bill advances with fiscal questions
Summary
County staff told the board Senate Bill 390 to treat vaping like smoking was tabled; an immunization-exemption bill (SB 474) has passed the Senate and awaits House Judiciary consideration amid a fiscal-note dispute. An environmental health license-fee bill cleared committee 20–0 and will move on in the Senate.
Abigail briefed the Cascade County City-County Board of Health on several bills with potential local public-health effects.
Abigail said Senate Bill 390, which would treat vaping and e-cigarette use the same as smoking under the Clean Indoor Air Act, passed the Senate but was tabled in the House and “it seems unlikely anything else will be done in this session.” She noted local action remains possible: “I believe the Great Falls City Council will pass the bill and so we’re prefabbing the same as traditional cigarettes in the city of Great Falls,” she said.
The board also discussed Senate Bill 474, an immunization-exemption measure the board had earlier addressed by resolution. Abigail said SB 474 passed the Senate and was awaiting action in House Judiciary; a sponsor has challenged the fiscal note, and board counsel will likely be involved if the bill proceeds. She described the practical implication: if the law were changed to limit differentiated quarantine by vaccine status, public-health agencies might be unable to exclude only unvaccinated individuals during an exposure response.
Abigail reported a separate bill to update environmental health license-establishment fees passed committee 20–0 and is expected to proceed in the Senate. “Those fees have not changed since 2009,” she said, adding local stakeholders supported the update.
Commissioner Briggs noted the board’s recent use of resolutions to engage the legislature and thanked members for participating in advance review and testimony. Staff said they will alert the board when hearings are scheduled and provide guidance if board members want to testify.
