COVID-19 vaccine bills being proposed in California
Will be voted on soon
by Pinedale Online!
March 28, 2022
There is a suite of proposed new bills being proposed in California regarding COVID-19, vaccine mandates, and cracking down on ‘misinformation’ about the virus and the vaccine. These proposed bills will be voted on within the next couple of weeks. They are being proposed by a Vaccine Working Group of Democratic state legislators. They include mandating vaccines for children and workers; to allow 12 to 17 years-olds to get the vaccine without parental consent; another would reclassify the sharing of COVID-19 "misinformation" by doctors and surgeons as unprofessional conduct that would result in disciplinary action.
The founding members of the Vaccine Work Group include Senator Dr. Richard Pan, Senator Scott Weiner, Senator Josh Newman, Assemblymember Akilah Weber, MD, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, and Assemblymember Evan Low. Proponents of the new bills say they will improve the state’s vaccination rate and crack down on misinformation about the virus and the vaccine.
The reason this is worth being on the public’s radar beyond California is because things that get passed through as law in California often work their way into other states.
The bills:
SB 871 - Schools: Vaccine Mandate
Would require all children 0 to 17 to get the COVID-19 vaccine to attend child care or school
Author: Democratic Sen. Richard Pan
This bill would require that all children age 0 - 17 get fully immunized with the COVID-19 vaccine to attend child care, day nursery, family day care home, development center, pre-school, or public or private K-12. It does not specify whether the vaccine must be approved by the Federal Drug Administration or for children under 5 before the requirement applies. The bill also would remove the personal belief exemption which allows parents to opt out of the vaccine for their child, for the COVID-19 vaccine, and eliminates the personal belief exemptions from any future vaccines the state Public Health Department adds to the list of required vaccines to attend school. The bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB871
SB 866 – Minors: Vaccine Consent
Would allow kids 12 to 17 to get the COVID-19 vaccine without parental consent
Author: Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, of San Francisco
This bill would allow children 12 to 17 to choose to take any vaccine available to their age group without parent or guardian consent. The goal is to allow teenagers who want the COVID-19 vaccine to get it independently to raise the vaccination rate among adolescents.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB866
SB 1479 - Schools: Continued COVID-19 Testing and Test Plans
Would require schools to continue COVID-19 testing and to create testing plans
Author: Democratic Sen. Richard Pan, of Sacramento
This bill would require school districts to continue COVID-19 testing for teachers, staff and students to stay open or reopen and to create COVID-19 testing plans for each of their school campuses, including preschools, child care sites and after-school programs. The bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Implementation is reliant on government funding so districts can have money to develop and implement the plans.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1479
SB 1018 - Social media misinformation
Would require online platforms to be more transparent about how information is pushed out to consumers
Author: Democratic Sen. Richard Pan, of Sacramento
This bill would require online platforms, such as Instagram, to be more transparent about how they use algorithms and what databases they interact with. The goal is to better understand how the platforms work and how information is pushed out to consumers. This bill would create a new "Office of Platform Accountability and Transparency." This bill would require a platform operator to disclose to the office, on or before July 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, among other things, certain information with respect to its use of algorithms and metrics, including a description of all product features that made use of algorithms during the previous calendar year. The bill would require the chairperson of the office to, on or before July 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, submit to the director and to the Legislature a report of the operations of the office, as provided. This bill would subject a violator of its provisions to a civil penalty of up to $100,000 for each violation that may be recovered only in a civil action brought by the Attorney General.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1018
SB 1464 - Law Enforcement: Enforcing Public Health Orders
Would force law enforcement officials to enforce public health orders
Author: Democratic Sen. Richard Pan, of Sacramento
This bill would require law enforcement officials to enforce public health orders. Currently, law enforcement can enforce these orders if they choose to. If a police or sheriff’s agency publicly announces or adopts a policy not to uphold public health orders, it would lose state funding. If funds are withheld, this bill would require those funds to instead be reallocated to the county public health department of the county in which the law enforcement agency operates for public health purposes.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1464
AB 1993 - Employment: COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate to work in California
Would require all employees, including independent contractors, to show proof of COVID-19 vaccine to work in California
Author: Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, of Oakland
This bill would mandate that employers require all workers and independent contractors to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. On January 1, 2023, each employer must affirm to the department all employees and independent contractors comply to the vaccine mandate. It does allow for medical and religious exemptions. The bill would require the department to impose a penalty of an unspecified amount on an employer for any violation of these provisions.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1993
AB 1797 – Immunization Registry
Would make changes to the California Immunization Record Database
Author: Democratic Assembly member Akilah Weber, of San Diego
This bill would change how the California Immunization Record database operates. It would require vaccine providers, from doctors to pharmacists, to upload vaccination data to the registry for all children. Currently, some providers don’t use the system. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also show all vaccinations given to a student, not just those required to attend school, and would require reporting the race and ethnicity of children. This bill would additionally authorize schools, childcare facilities, family childcare homes, and county human services agencies to use the specified immunization information, in the event of a public health emergency, to perform immunization status assessments of pupils, adults, and clients.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1797
AB 2098 – Physicians: Unprofessional Conduct
This bill would designate the dissemination or promotion of misinformation or disinformation related to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, or "COVID-19," as unprofessional conduct
Author: Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low, of Cupertino
This bill aims to stop licensed doctors and surgeons from sharing what the government calls misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. It does that by classifying the distribution or promotion of misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19 as "unprofessional conduct". This includes what the government considers to be false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. Physicians who do so risk losing their medical licenses or disciplinary action by governing medical boards.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2098
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