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Utah House wrestles with immunization-exemption process; substitute wins narrow passage, bill circled for further review
Summary
Lawmakers debated House Bill 2-21 for hours, clashing over whether parents should be required to meet in person with local health departments before claiming immunization exemptions; an 8th-substitute was adopted 39-35 and sponsors later moved to circle the bill for additional stakeholder input.
House members engaged in a prolonged debate March 3 over House Bill 2-21, a measure that would change the process for parents to request immunization exemptions for schoolchildren, including requirements for education and where exemption forms are filed.
Sponsor Representative Karianne Moss (first presenting at SEG 988) said the bill’s purpose is to protect children and help parents “safely quarantine and protect their children when outbreaks occur.” She described the version before the House as the result of “many many months of work” with school nurses, pediatricians and local health departments and stressed the bill’s education component: “1, signs and symptoms of disease. 2, how to protect a child in an outbreak. And 3, how to reduce the spread of disease.”
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