How many elected officials does it take to impose a vaccine mandate on your children? Answer: 6. OK, – technically, it’s just 5. The sixth participant is an unelected commissioner, appointed by the Governor.
The decision to force a vaccine on virtually every child in New Hampshire should not be taken lightly. It certainly shouldn’t be possible for a mere six people to impose that kind of a mandate. Unfortunately, current law in our state allows exactly that.
This is why I filed House Bill 1379, which would revoke rulemaking authority for the Commissioner of Health & Human Services with respect to childhood immunizations. If this bill becomes law, then decisions of this magnitude would need to pass a much higher hurdle, by requiring a majority vote in both houses of the legislature, plus the assent of the Governor.
Here’s the more detailed explanation: Most of what we call “law” in New Hampshire falls within two broad categories. When a bill goes through the legislative process and is signed by the Governor, we call it statute. That’s how most people think about the lawmaking process.
The second category is what’s called “Administrative Rule,” made possible when the legislature enacts statutes that delegate authority to unelected officials. It has the advantage of being faster and more flexible than the standard legislative process, but it also hands considerable power over to a relatively small group of people. Administrative rules tend to get far less public attention than bills that come before the legislature. That should be a concern to anyone who cares about good government.
There’s a well-defined process for adopting rules, and it does involve some elected officials, but there are very few people involved in actually rendering those decisions. A commissioner proposes a rule, then it gets a hearing before the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR). Unless a majority of that 10-person committee votes to object to the rule, it eventually takes on the force of law.
Unfortunately, there are people who would love to impose a vaccine mandate on our children. In fact, last week, the House Health & Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee heard testimony on HB1633, a bill sponsored by Bill Marsh that would mandate the COVID-19 shot for school attendance in New Hampshire, including students attending colleges and universities in our state.
I’m predicting that HB1633 will go down in flames, – and I’ll be glad when it does. But we should be equally concerned about the power of a very small group to accomplish the same thing via administrative rule. In recent testimony, DHHS staff testified that they are not prepared to impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate “at this time.” Further testimony indicated that DHHS insiders have not yet reached a consensus as to whether or not there should be such a mandate.
If you need any evidence that they’re considering a mandate, – there it is.
My bill will simply revoke the rulemaking authority currently held by the Commissioner of DHHS. Any new vaccine mandates would need to go through the legislative process.
Please support HB1379. The hearing will take place this Monday, February 14th at 10:45 AM before the House Health & Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee. Please SUPPORT THIS BILL by taking one or more of the following steps today:
- Use the online form to sign in and indicate your support for the bill.
- E-mail members of the HHS&EA Committee and urge them to vote “Ought to Pass” on HB1379.
- Attend the hearing in person on Monday February 14th. If you are inclined to testify, sign up using a “pink card” and plan on speaking briefly in support of the bill. If you choose not to testify, sign in on the blue sheet at the back of the room and indicate your support.
If you haven’t yet joined the e-mail lists for Health Freedom NH and RebuildNH, I urge you to go to their websites and sign up for updates.
