HEARING INFORMATION
The Joint Committee on Public Health will conduct a hybrid (in-person and virtual) public hearing on bills relating to vaccines and exemptions.
Date: Wednesday July 26th 2023
Start Time: 9:00am – 6:00pm
Location: Gardner Auditorium in the Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02133 and virtually
THE DEADLINE TO PRE-REGISTER IS MONDAY JULY 24TH AT 5PM EST.
SIGN-UP HERE: Tinyurl.com/TestimonySignUPMA
Individuals testifying should limit their remarks to 2 minutes. All panels should limit their testimony to a total of 4 minutes.
General Hearing information: https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/4600
BILLS TO BE HEARD
✅ H.582– An Act relative to the protection of medical exemptions for immunizations for school attendance presented by Representative Michael Soter
H.582 will preserve current exemption law and expand medical exemption criteria while protecting the providers who write them.
- Learn more about H.582
- Send a pre-filled email SUPPORTING H.582
- Sign-up to testify in person or virtually
❌ H.471-An Act requiring immunizations against preventable diseases presented by Representative William Driscoll Jr.
H.471 proposes to add two additional vaccines, the HPV vaccine and the Hepatitis A vaccine, to the list of required vaccines to attend school in Massachusetts.
- Learn more about H.471
- Send a pre-filled email to legislators OPPOSING H.471
- Sign-up to testify in person or virtually
❌ S.1458/H.2151 – An Act Promoting Community Immunity Senator Rausch and Representative Donato
Spanning nine pages, key concerns raised by S.1458 include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Allowing any physician to administer vaccinations to minors without parental consent or knowledge, with no limitations on age or intellectual ability. Furthermore, medical records pertaining to vaccinations would be concealed from parents.
- Granting private daycare centers, preschools, schools, or colleges/universities the ability to establish their own vaccination policies. This includes the potential to outright deny religious exemptions and impose additional vaccines beyond those specified by the MA-DPH.
- Restricting the criteria that physicians can consider when evaluating medical exemptions for vaccinations. Only narrowly defined “contraindications” would be permitted.
- Modifying the existing law for religious exemptions by mandating the use of a form prepared by the Department of Public Health (DPH) and requiring annual approval from the DPH.
- Compromising the privacy rights of medically fragile children who exercise a medical exemption, leaving them susceptible to exploitation.
- Granting the DPH the authority to alter medical and religious exemptions without undergoing a legislative process.
- Learn more about S.1458/H.2151
- Send a pre-filled email to legislators OPPOSING S.1391/H.604
- Sign-up to testify in person or virtually
❌ S.1391/H.604 – An Act Relative to Routine Childhood Immunizations presented by Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative Andy Vargas
S.1391/H.604 would remove the religious exemption to vaccination, which would deny in-person schooling to children who desperately need it, including those from communities of color and underprivileged backgrounds, and those with special needs.
S.1391/H.604 will also require all schools to report immunization and medical exemption data to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, to annually publish and make publicly available aggregate immunizations and exemptions data for each school and school district.
- Learn more about S.1391/H.604
- Send a pre-filled email to legislators OPPOSING S.1391/H.604
- Sign-up to testify in person or virtually
TESTIMONY GUIDE & FAQS – PLEASE NOTE THIS SESSION, TESTIMONY IS 2 MINUTES
PARKING:
BILL TESTIMONY ZOOM
Testimony prep/bill education Zoom
Monday July 17th, 2023 at 8:30pm EST
Join bill experts this morning for this important Zoom to help answer your questions about individual bills, verbal vs. written testimony, and best strategy for the upcoming hearing!
Whether you have testified in the past, or joining us for the first time, this will be helpful and informative!
This Zoom will NOT be recorded.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED – https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElfuyurz8sGtW1AjgqcBcA-O3Pi0jfOUul#/registration
TESTIMONY GUIDE
Individuals testifying should limit their remarks to 2 minutes.
All panels should limit their testimony to a total of 4 minutes.
Visit our testimony guide – https://healthactionma.org/testimony-guide/, please note that the testimony time has changed to 2 minutes.
Our Advocacy FAQ page also has excellent resources to help answer questions https://healthactionma.org/advocacy-faqs/
WRITTEN TESTIMONY
If you would like to provide written testimony, please include the bill number in the subject line of the email, as well as your name, address, phone number, and organization, if any, on the submitted testimony. Written testimony is encouraged and will continue to be accepted after the hearing until the relevant bill is acted upon. Such testimony may be submitted via email to JointCommittee.PublicHealth@malegislature.gov. Please include “Public Health Committee Testimony, [Relevant Bill Number]” in the subject line of the email. Those who plan to submit only written testimony may do so before or after the signup deadline.
HEARING LIVE STREAM
This hearing will be recorded and archived for later viewing. Those who do not plan to testify but want to watch the public hearing may view the livestream under the Hearings & Events section of the legislative website.
