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AIM Legislative Round-Up: May 27, 2022

AIM State Legislative Round-Up

We are truly in the home stretch for most state legislative sessions.  Recently, we’ve heard reports that many of the most concerning anti-vaccine bills have either stalled or died either in committee or due to adjournment.  AIM will issue a retrospective later this summer tracking the trends in what was proposed, what became law, and what might come next.  We continue to see concerning anti-vax movements undermining existing state vaccine requirements. We want to highlight again the AIM template fact sheet that you could adapt to share your state’s story about how requirements save lives and keep communities safe – available here.  Finally, we want also to highlight a new organization called the SAFE Communities Coalition.  They bill themselves as the nation’s first pro-vaccine political advocacy organization and are working to support pro-vaccine legislation and lawmakers.

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AIM Legislative Round-Up: May 13, 2022

AIM State Legislative Round-Up

Legislatures have adjourned in more than half of the states and continue to wind down. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures tracker, 19 states remain in session, with seven of those states meeting year-round. The latest count from colleagues at ASTHO indicates that 228 vaccine-related bills were introduced this year, along with a roughly equal number that carried over from last year. Of bills introduced this year, the vast majority are no longer under active consideration – with 61 failing by a vote and most of the rest not considered before adjournment. Twenty-nine bills have been enacted, and about three dozen are still pending and have passed at least one chamber.

AIM’s policy team stands ready to assist as needed for those states still in session. Please contact AIM Chief Policy and Government Relations Officer Brent Ewig for help. Later this summer, AIM will create another full review to provide an overview of state legislative trends.

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AIM Policy Summaries

Each week, AIM staff compile new or moving legislation in jurisdictions all over the country. This legislative summary is for the week of March 4, 2022.

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Legislative Round-Ups

AIM State Legislative Round-Up

Most legislative sessions are now in full swing, and AIM continues to stand ready to support you as you navigate these potentially challenging waters. View the short video of tips for testifying before state legislatures below, and please reach out to AIM Chief Policy and Government Relations Officer Brent Ewig with any requests for assistance.

As of March 2, at least 497 immunization-related bills have been introduced or carried over from previous sessions. The action appears to be happening in every state except three, and at least 24 bills have been recently enacted.

While too soon to definitively identify any new trends, the focus on prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine requirements and efforts to expand exemptions continues. Examples of recently enacted bills include the following:

  • An individual may object to the administration of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine based on religious, medical, or other grounds. (AK)
  • An act prohibiting the mandatory disclosure of whether a person has received a vaccination for COVID-19 and disqualifying certain entities from receiving state grants or contracts if noncompliant. (IA)
  • Requiring employers who impose COVID-19 vaccine requirements to allow medical and religious exemptions, providing for waiver requests, authorizing a complaint and investigation process with the secretary of labor for violations related to exemptions, enforcement actions by the attorney general and civil penalties to be imposed by a court for such violations. (KS)
  • Prohibiting discrimination based on vaccine status or possessing an immunity passport. (MT)

Finally, while it is unclear how this might affect state legislation, Politico recently reported that at least five states that previously opposed the concept of so-called vaccine passports are now quietly embracing the technology behind them.

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