House committee approves bill requiring schools to give parents information on adolescent vaccines

Representative Taylor, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee that House Bill 173 (LC 610,044) would require the Department of Education to provide parents and guardians of students entering the sixth grade — amended to seventh grade during the hearing — with information on recommended adolescent vaccinations and how parents may get more information.

“This is purely informational,” Representative Taylor said, adding the materials “can be electronic. It can be paper.” Taylor also said the bill “does not require any immunizations. There is no pressure to go get them.”

Committee members asked how the Department of Education would obtain the material. Taylor said the Department of Public Health would provide the content. Representative Cannon backed the proposal, saying more information is generally better and praising the bill as a way to make existing public-health resources more available.

Reverend Steve Oliver and others questioned whether the material should target students entering sixth grade or seventh grade. The committee adopted an amendment changing the bill to require distribution to parents of students entering seventh grade.

After brief additional discussion, a committee member moved that the bill “do pass.” The motion was seconded; the committee approved House Bill 173 as amended by a voice vote.

The bill’s text, as discussed at the hearing, allows schools to provide the information electronically or on paper and directs the Department of Education to make the materials available to parents and guardians. It expressly states that it does not impose a vaccination requirement on students.

The committee did not identify implementation details such as a timeline for the Department of Education to begin distribution or any additional funding to support materials production. Committee members said they expect local school systems and the Department of Education to manage how the materials are disseminated (for example, posting on school websites or including them in registration packets).

Votes at the hearing were taken by voice; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

Looking ahead, the bill will move forward in the legislative process as a committee-approved measure. The Department of Education and the Department of Public Health were referenced as the implementing agencies but the committee did not provide an implementation schedule during the hearing.