Senate committee sends 'Idaho Medical Freedom Act' draft to print after sponsor broadens vaccine-era ban language

Senator Dan Foreman, District 6, told the committee he is sponsoring RS31876 to amend the existing “Coronavirus Stop Act” by deleting references to the coronavirus and replacing them with the term “medical intervention.”

Foreman said the proposed Idaho Medical Freedom Act would define medical intervention to encompass “any pharmaceutical or biological agent or product designed to alter or restrict the biological functioning of the human body” and would bar state, local governments, businesses and many schools from imposing medical-intervention mandates as a condition of employment, attendance or receiving services, except where federal law requires such a mandate.

Foreman said the draft would also prohibit differential pay or wages based on whether an employee has received a medical intervention and would prevent government benefits or services from being conditioned on receipt of a medical intervention.

Senator Wintrow told the committee she would support printing the RS for a full hearing but raised questions about how “medical intervention” would be defined in practice and how the bill would treat longstanding vaccination requirements such as for polio. Wintrow said she would have “a lot of questions” at the formal hearing.

Senator Lenny moved and Senator Zieterfeld seconded a motion to send RS31876 to print for introduction; the motion passed on a voice vote. The committee did not take further action or adopt statutory language at the meeting; the print motion initiates the formal hearing process where definitions and exemptions will be debated.