January- The Kansas House committee Health and Human Services is about to consider a new exemption for immunization based on reasons of conscience or personal belief. There are already medical and religious exemptions.  HB 2094

Find your House member with this link http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/vote/ or just email the entire committee: jim.denning@house.ks.gov; barbara.bollier@house.ks.gov; brenda.landwehr@house.ks.gov; Owen.Donohoe@house.ks.gov; j.stephen.alford@house.ks.gov; bob.bethell@house.ks.gov; terry.calloway@house.ks.gov; david.crum@house.ks.gov; phil.hermanson@house.ks.gov; ann.mah@house.ks.gov; peggy.mast@house.ks.gov; kelly.meigs@house.ks.gov; susan.mosier@house.ks.gov; bill.otto@house.ks.gov; geraldine.flaharty@house.ks.gov; ed.trimmer@house.ks.gov; jim.ward@house.ks.gov; brian.weber@house.ks.gov; valdenia.winn@house.ks.gov

Dear Representative,

It has come to my attention that the House Health and Human Services committee is considering a new exemption, HB 2094, for immunizations based on reasons of conscience and personal belief. As the mother of three young sons, I strongly support this bill as I believe that parents, not the state, should have the final say in what immunizations their children receive. The current exemptions for medical and religious reasons are not sufficient. Many faiths, including my own, do not formally weigh-in on the issue of vaccination. This puts parents who, for well-formed reasons of their own, disagree with the current mandated vaccination schedule at odds with the current law.

I am proud to live in a state with a strong history of supporting individual freedom. HB 2094 extends freedom for parents.

While I know that you are not on the Health and Human Services committee, I hope that if HB 2094 gets out of committee, you will throw your support behind it.

Sincerely,

Mom & Dad

February- At this time, after much work, there is not enough support in the Kansas HHS Committee to send the Conscientious Exemption HB 2094 out for a House vote.

THANK YOU to all of you who worked so hard to make phone calls and send emails to the committee members and to your Representatives and Senators.
The only other option for this year is to try and get a bill going in the Senate. If everyone could call or email their own Senator and ask if they can help get a bill introduced that would be helpful. We will continue sharing information with the legislators and gaining more support in preparation for next year.

There are 3 main reasons the Conscientious Exemption HB 2094 did not succeed this year:

1. There are not enough legislators in the committee and out of the committee, who are educated enough on this subject to support it.

2. They are not hearing from and talking with enough citizens from across the whole state who want and need this bill passed.

3. They are under too much pressure or are too afraid about how this new exemption might affect the public health in Kansas.

Kansans for Vaccine Rights

Kansans for Vaccine Rights (KVR) is a group of volunteers in Kansas working together to promote and protect the right of every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their families without the risk of penalty or discrimination.

KVR shares this vision: passage of a bill to provide parents and individuals with a conscientious exemption to mandatory immunizations in Kansas.