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Sponsors seek to clarify religious‑exemption paperwork after county and school confusion; DHHS urges standardized form for outbreak response
Summary
Representative Jim Kofalt told the committee HB 358 would clarify that parents may provide a signed statement — not only a DHHS‑issued template — to claim a religious exemption from school or child‑care immunization requirements.
Representative Jim Kofalt, sponsor of HB 358, told the committee the bill responds to an unintended consequence of 2022 legislation that removed the notarization requirement for religious exemptions. The 2022 change used the word "form," which Kofalt said led DHHS and some school districts to treat a DHHS‑produced template as the exclusive way to claim a religious exemption.
"The passage of a bill with the word form in it prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to create a form," Kofalt told the committee. "That was not the original intent. The purpose of this bill is to clarify unequivocally that the statute should reflect the original intent … to remove the requirement that a parent's request for religious exemption to immunizations required for school attendance be notarized."
Representative Erica Leon, who served on the committee that drafted the 2022 change and…
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