HB2, the Budget Bill, HB357, and Now Vaccine Mandates – What on Earth is Going On?
Q. What was HB357 all about? https://gc.nh.gov/bill_Status/billinfo.aspx?id=444&inflect=2
A. The purpose of HB357 was to end the mandates of varicella, Hep B, and HIB vaccines. The way to achieve this was to repeal the commissioner’s authority to mandate vaccines by rulemaking.
Q. But aren’t these vaccines already mandated in rules, that have the effect of law?
A. Yes, they are already mandated by rule. But these rules are set to expire in June 2026. Repealing the commissioner’s authority would ensure the rules do expire.
Q. Are there differences in Rules and Laws?
A. Yes. Rules have expiration dates, but laws do not unless they contain a sunset provision. In this situation, the rules mandating these three vaccines (varicella, Hep B, and HIB) are set to expire in June 2026. Unelected commissioners are not accountable to the voters, whereas legislators are accountable to the voters.
Q. So what happened to HB357?
A. This good bill came out of committee with a favorable recommendation to pass and was passed by the House without amendment. The Senate voted HB357 ITL (killed) on a voice vote.
Q. But this was a good bill that had great public support, so what happened next?
A. Our freedom friends in the legislature put HB357 into HB2 (the budget bill) as originally written and passed by the House. The fight for health freedom was on! But…the vaccine pushers weren’t happy and fought to amend the language of HB357 to put the requirements of the varicella, Hep B, and HIB vaccines into statute as permanent law. It was all very secretive, with no public notice or input in a dirty backroom deal. Such statutory mandates were never the intent of HB357; no there was never intent to trade rule mandates for statutory mandates. Clearly health freedom voters have been betrayed.
Q. What happens now?
A. Please contact your state representatives and state senators and ask them to vote against HB2 the budget bill on Thursday, June 26. This egregious affront to freedom and parental rights to decide what is injected into our own children cannot pass. Please be clear this is why you want HB2 voted down and ask that there be no language relative to HB357 in any Continuing Resolution or new budget bill. Time to concede we have lost this one and prepare to elect better representatives and senators and try another time.
Q. But wait, I heard that the purpose of HB357 was to remove the commissioner’s authority to mandate these vaccines and put them into state statute instead.
A. You’ve been told wrong. There is no such language in the bill. And in hearings on the bill, it was clear that the intent was to see these mandates end when the rules terminated. Testimony supported the repeal of these mandates.
Q. But if these vaccines are put into statute as mandates, can’t we just repeal them later?
A. That is wishful, unrealistic thinking. In the history of our nation, no state has ever repealed the statutory mandate of a currently ACIP recommended vaccine. We have a super Republican majority right now and if we cannot repeal vaccine mandates under this environment, when would it ever be possible to repeal mandates once put into statute by Republicans?
Q. But isn’t it dangerous to have the commissioner in control of vaccines? I hear she could suddenly impose all ACIP vaccines.
A. That is hype and fear tactics used to frighten people into accepting a bad proposal. Clear thinking and knowledgeable understanding of the workings of DHHS and their vaccine business through the NH Vaccine Association would have you understand that that is hugely unlikely such that it won’t happen. DHHS is successful at pushing a big volume of vaccines on NH children without extending mandates. In fact, of all the vaccines DHHS purchases for children, 76% of the vaccines are on a voluntary use basis, not mandates at all in statute or rule. DHHS does this through contracts with providers that are coercive enough for DHHS to avoid public scrutiny by proposing new vaccine mandates. Have you ever been bullied by your child’s doctor to get a vaccine? Then you’ve seen this coercion at work.
Q. Isn’t passing HB357 even with these three vaccine mandates a win, or a partial win?
A. No, it’s not a win at all. In fact, it is a huge loss. Putting vaccine mandates permanently into statute as a tradeoff to repeal the commissioner’s authority is no gain in parental rights or freedom. It is a huge setback because statutory mandates are never repealed. A win at this point would be to strike out all language relative to HB357 from the budget bill, regroup, and try a new approach next year. I have ideas and suggestions.
Q. Is it possible that if the commissioner’s authority was repealed and these three vaccine mandates are imposed in statute, that someone could put in a bill next year to restore the commissioner’s authority to mandate by rule?
A. Actually, that is an expected outcome. Tragic and expected. This is why it is essential to never volunteer to put vaccine mandates into statute.
Q. Are there other adverse consequences to passing this amended language of HB357 that would impose statutory mandates?
A. Yes. Many parents and others see the dirty, backdoor imposition of mandates of these three dangerous vaccines as an egregious betrayal of trust and faith in what we elected specific Reps and Senators to do. Lackluster support for re-election is likely to flip the Legislature to the Democrats.
Q. So, it’s best to vote down HB2 the budget bill, insist all HB357 language is stripped from a continuing resolution, all vaccine mandates kept out of a new budget bill, and try a new approach next year?
A. Yup, you got it. That’s the plan now.
Laura Condon, NH Director of Advocacy with the National Vaccine Information Center
www.nvicadvocacy.org
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