[NVICAP-WA] Wa Hearing Recap and Next Steps to Oppose SB5005 and HB1015

March 13, 2011

From: " Dawn " <prove@...>

FYI – please pass this to Washington people! Dawn

Dear Washington NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

On Wednesday, March 9th, approximately 90 of us attended the House Health

and Wellness Committee hearing to oppose SB5005/HB1015. Mothers,

fathers, grandparents, kids, babies, activists, and even some lobbyists

all came together wearing their “No SB5005” stickers to send the strong

message to legislators to oppose proposed legislation that would require

parents to secure a medical workers’ signature in order for a religious

or philosophical exemption to mandatory vaccination to be valid in

Washington.

Even though we had over 65 people sign in to give prepared testimony

against the bill, the testimony was cut off by the committee chair after

only a handful from our side had spoken. While this was

disappointing, fortunately our side came prepared and most submitted

copies of their written testimony to become part of the public

record. No vote has yet been taken but it could be brought up

in an executive session for a vote this Wednesday so please keep calls

and emails to committee members going (see below).

This strong showing coupled with the impact of all your calls, emails and

faxes is starting to show some success with educating legislators and

undoing the damage of the misinformation being propagated by those who

desire to restrict philosophical and religious exemptions for our

families. We have been receiving emails from legislators and staff

members letting us know their offices are reconsidering their support for

this bill because, thanks to your communications, they are realizing some

who have been promoting the bills have not been honest or accurate in

their information. We need to keep up this effort of

courteously and persistently educating not only the members on this

committee, but also now on the Senate Health & Long-Term Care

Committee because the companion bill HB1015 is scheduled for its hearing

on March 17th at 1:30 pm in Olympia that we need to count on you to

attend (more on this below) .

(If you would like to hear the testimony on SB5005, link to

http://www.tvw.org/media/MediaPlayer.cfm?evid=2011031043 & TYPE=V & bhcp=1

and scroll in to start at about 1:06)

HOW TO HELP TO CONTINUE TO OPPOSE HB1015 and

SB5005

1. Please sign up for NVIC’s Advocacy Portal at

http://NVICAdvocacy.org (if

this email note was forwarded to you from a friend and you are not

already registered) so you can receive timely important email

updates of our efforts to expand and protect vaccine exemptions in your

state and be automatically linked to your personal legislators and their

contact information when you log into the site.

2. Immediately contact your own Washington State

Representative and Senator asking them to Oppose HB1015 and

SB5005. You can log on to your Washington state page on

http://NVICAdvocacy.org to view

talking points (also listed below at the bottom) and can be linked

directly to your state personal legislators.

3. Plan on attending the next public hearing to OPPOSE HB

1015 on March 17th at 1:30 in the Senate Health & Long-Term Care

Committee, Senate Hearing Room 4, J.A. Cherberg Building in

Olympia, WA.

http://www.ga.wa.gov/images/campus-map.pdf. Please RSVP to

CODirector@... and let us know if you can commit to

attend so we can get you more information and keep you in the loop.

Plan on wearing black again and getting your “NO HB1015” sticker right

before the hearing. We need people to give 2-3 minutes of testimony

at the hearing (we can help you prepare if you are willing to do it) but

if you don’t want to testify that is okay because we truly need as many

people as possible to show their opposition by just showing up and

attending and supporting those who do get up to testify in opposition to

HB1015. You may not get to testify, but come prepared with 20

copies of your testimony to turn in when you sign in to be a part of the

public record. This is the last public hearing on these bills so

please help us oppose them.

4. Keep calling and emailing the House Health Care and

Wellness Committee with your points of opposition to SB5005.

The hearing is over and they are going to take a vote soon – maybe as

early as this Wednesday the 16th in executive session. Be patient,

courteous, but most important be persistent. We have to help

educate them why they need to oppose this bill. Please don’t let up

on this committee! (List of suggested talking points are

below) If you attended this hearing and were not given the

opportunity to testify, PLEASE contact every member of this committee and

let them know you attended and what your opposition to the bill

was. Do this even if you submitted written testimony. They

need to keep hearing from us.

eileen.cody@...;

laurie.jinkins@...;

joe.schmick@...;

barbara.bailey@...;

bill.hinkle@...;

judy.clibborn@...;

tami.green@...;

paul.harris@...;

troy.kelley@...;

jim.moeller@...;

kevin.vandewege@...

House Health Care and Wellness Committee Phone Numbers:

Representative

Room

Phone

Cody, Eileen (D) Chair

MOD F 101

(360) 786-7978

Jinkins, Laurie (D) Vice Chair

MOD C 103

(360) 786-7930

Schmick, Joe ® *

MOD A 103

(360) 786-7844

Hinkle, Bill ® **

MOD G 104

(360) 786-7808

, Barbara ®

LEG 122A

(360) 786-7914

Clibborn, Judy (D)

MOD C 102

(360) 786-7926

Green, Tami (D)

LEG 122H

(360) 786-7958

, ®

MOD C 205

(360) 786-7976

Kelley, Troy (D)

MOD D 106

(360) 786-7890

Moeller, Jim (D)

LEG 429B

(360) 786-7872

Van De Wege, (D)

LEG 434A

(360) 786-7916

5. Call and email the Senate Health & Long-Term

Care Committee with your points of opposition to HB1015. The

hearing is coming up this Thursday March 17th at 1:30 so all week long

before the hearing they need to be hearing from you why they need to

oppose this bill. Again, please be courteous, but most important be

persistent. We have to overcome the misinformation they have been

given. (List of suggested talking points are below) If

you attended the hearing on SB5005, the companion bill to HB 1015, please

let these committee members know that and what your concerns

are.

karen.keiser@...;

steve.conway@...;

randi.becker@...;

mike.carrell@...;

adam.kline@...;

edward.murray@...;

lindaevans.parlette@...;

cheryl.pflug@...;

craig.pridemore@...

Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee Phone Numbers:

Senator

Room

Phone

Keiser, (D) Chair

JAC 224

(360) 786-7664

Conway,

Steve (D) Vice Chair

JAC 213

(360) 786-7656

Becker,

Randi ® *

INB 115B

(360) 786-7602

Carrell, Mike ®

INB 102

(360) 786-7654

Kline,

Adam (D)

JAC 223

(360) 786-7688

Murray,

Ed (D)

JAC 303

(360) 786-7628

Parlette, ®

LEG 316

(360) 786-7622

Pflug,

Cheryl ®

LEG 415

(360) 786-7608

Pridemore, Craig (D)

JAC 212

(360) 786-7696

Talking Points to Oppose

SB5005/HB1015

SB5005 (and companion HB1015) add the burdensome requirement for

parents utilizing a philosophical or religious exemption to mandatory

vaccination to have to get a signature from a health care provider on

their exemption form.

“The form presented on or after the effective date of

this section must include a statement to be signed by a health care

practitioner stating that he or she provided the signator with

information about the benefits and risks of immunization.”

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5005.pdf

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1015.pdf

The current state exemption form does not require a health care

practitioner signature for philosophical or religious exemptions, only

medical exemptions require a signature from a health care

provider.

http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/immunize/documents/certifexemption.pdf

SB5005/HB1015 restrict the free exercise of religion by imposing the

requirement of a medical worker’s signature as a condition to validate a

religious exemption to mandatory vaccination in Washington. This is a

clear violation of the First Amendment and places the state at risk for

an expensive constitutional challenge. These bills require a parent using a philosophical or religious

exemption to suffer the financial hardship of being forced to enter into

a private contractual paid relationship with a limited selection of

health care practitioners not only that they may not otherwise utilize,

but who most likely hold contentious views on vaccination and benefit

financially from the sales of the vaccines. Nothing prohibits the health care practitioner from refusing to sign

the exemption form out of a disagreement with the parent’s beliefs or

liability concerns leaving the parent without a valid exemption. 19 states, including Washington, and almost 50% of the population of

the United States, have philosophical/conscientious exemptions available

without negative impact on public health. There is absolutely no immunization rate crisis in Washington and

there is no valid reason for putting unreasonable barriers between

parents and vaccine exemptions. According to the CDC’s most

recent National Immunization Survey, the individual vaccination

rates for core vaccines in Washington are already high: 3 DTaP – 95.4%, 4

DTaP – 82.2%, 3 Polio – 92.9%, 1 MMR – 90.8%, 3 Hib – 92.7%,

3 Hep B – 88.6%, 1 Varicella – 85.4%, 3 Pneumococcal – 92.5%.

The vaccine most refused is the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine.

http://www2a.cdc.gov/nip/coverage/nis/nis_iap2.asp?fmt=v & rpt=tab03_antigen_state & qtr=Q1/2009-Q4/2009

Health is not adversely affected by the availability of

philosophical/conscientious exemptions. Out of the top eleven

ranked healthiest states in the 2010 edition of America’s Health

Rankings, six of them including Washington allow

philosophical/conscientious belief exemptions (Vermont, Minnesota, Utah,

Maine, Idaho, Washington). The healthiest state, Vermont, allows for a

philosophical/conscientious belief exemption.

http://www.americashealthrankings.org/measure/2010/overall.aspx Pertussis outbreaks will not be prevented by making it harder to

obtain vaccine exemptions. According to the Watchdog Institute,

during the recent pertussis outbreak in California, 83 percent of the

people diagnosed with pertussis had been immunized.

http://www.watchdoginstitute.org/2010/12/17/when-immunity-fails-behind-the-story/

Parents love their children and want the best for them. Parents

need to be respected by the state without interference by the state to

make conscientious health care decisions in their child’s best interests. The political trend is moving in favor of expanding vaccine

exemptions, not restricting them. In 2003, the Texas Legislature

added a conscientious exemption to mandatory vaccination laws and there

are five states with current bills filed to add

philosophical/conscientious exemptions because it is the right thing to

do: Kansas – HB 2094, New Hampshire – HB 416, New Jersey – A 2450,

New York – S 1331, and West Virginia – HB 2998. While most states don’t place restrictions on obtaining religious or

philosophical exemptions, some states require religious or philosophical

exemption forms to be notarized before being submitted.

No state requires a medical practitioner’s signature to validate a

religious or philosophical exemption.

Sincerely,

Dawn , Director of Advocacy

National Vaccine Information Center

http://NVIC.org and

http://NVICAdvocacy.org

Dawn@...

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A Difference, support NVIC. NVIC is a certified 501©3

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March 13, 2011