Senate committee advances bill moving daycare immunization rules from agency regulations into statute

The Senate Health Committee on Tuesday voted to send House Bill 290 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. Representative Healy, sponsor of the bill, said the measure moves existing agency rules on immunizations for children in licensed daycare facilities into statute so the Legislature — rather than agency directors — controls those requirements.

Representative Healy said the bill “puts the control back into the elected officials” by preventing the department from adopting temporary rules outside of the legislative session. “By doing this and moving the rules into statute, the department can no longer make temporary rules on vaccines, increase enforcement, etcetera,” she said.

The bill retains a provision, long present in the existing rules, that allows a licensed daycare operator to exclude a child who “does not meet the conditions of this section” until the child is in compliance. Senator Ziderfeld raised “grave concerns” about that provision, asking whether children could be excluded during an outbreak until they complied with vaccination requirements. Representative Healy responded that the exclusion language “has always been there” in the rules and that one benefit of codifying the rule is that the Legislature could revisit and change such language if it wishes.

The draft also authorizes the department to “randomly select and visit licensed daycare facilities to evaluate compliance” and requires the department to record violations in writing and provide a copy to the licensed daycare operator. Senators asked what records inspectors would review; Representative Healy said inspectors would look for documentation such as signed exemption forms when a family has chosen an exemption and that each daycare must keep its policy documentation on hand.

Committee members debated the broader consequences of converting rules into statute. Senator Lenny described the bill as moving existing rules into code and said the practical effect is to give elected legislators rather than agency officials control over these policies. Senator Wintrow noted that the Legislature already reviews agency rules and has authority over the executive branch, but other senators said codification would make it easier for future legislatures to amend or overturn specific requirements.

No members of the public offered testimony on the bill. Senator Buerke moved, and Senator Harris seconded, that the committee send House Bill 290 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. Senator Seiderfeld stated on the record that she would vote no, citing concerns about unintended consequences and differences that could be addressed through amendment. The motion passed; Senators Ziderfeld and Wintrow recorded nay votes.