Legislative Updates

The 2024 Legislative Session will be here before we know it! Together, we can advocate for our kids, families, schools, friends & neighbors and hold our elected officials accountable to the pro-vaccine majority in our state.

Together, we can protect our communities from vaccine preventable diseases!

Thank you for your tireless advocacy efforts! Our elected officials need to hear our voices, and it’s important that they KEEP hearing from YOU, the people they serve. Below are results proposed bills impacting immunization from the 2023 legislative session.

BILLS VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR:

HB 182: (Rep. Kathy Edmonston) Prohibits requiring a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of enrollment or attendance at a public or nonpublic school (applicable to licensed day care centers, K-12 schools, and colleges and universities).

  • Sets a dangerous precedent of prohibiting vaccine requirements for school attendance and could lead to bans on requirements for routine vaccinations when data shows they are safe and effective for keeping our kids healthy and in school.

  • LFV Position: OPPOSE

  • Failed veto override by 1 vote in the House

HB 399: (Rep. Kathy Edmonston) Requires that communication issued to students or parents about immunization requirements include exemption information and applies exemptions not only to students seeking to enter school but also to students attending school. Requires that any communication issued to students or their parents or guardians relative to immunization requirements include the text and legal citation of the present law exemption provision.

  • Additional communication on exemptions beyond what is already required by law without accompanying information on the safety and efficacy of vaccination as well as information on the diseases protected against and potential consequences of not vaccinating could inadvertently lead parents to incorrect conclusions that vaccines are not safe or effective and/or that risks of vaccines outweigh the risks of disease.

  • LFV Position: OPPOSE

  • Veto overridden by House, Failed override in the Senate by 3 votes

LEGISLATION PASSED:

HB 291: (Rep. Charles Owen) Creates the "No Patient Left Alone Law" and establishes minimum requirements for in-person visits at certain healthcare facilities.

  • Leaves vulnerable patients at risk by prohibiting healthcare facilities from requiring proof of vaccination from visitors. One person's choice not to vaccinate should not be allowed to endanger the lives of every vulnerable patient in hospitals, nursing homes, or other healthcare settings.

  • LFV Position: OPPOSE unless amended

  • Signed by Governor

SR 101 (Sen. Gerald Boudreaux) Urges and requests the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include monoclonal antibodies for RSV within the federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) program.

  • RSV is a highly transmissible seasonal virus and the leading cause of hospitalization in previously healthy, term infants. Monoclonal antibodies will provide passive protection for infants and children, decreasing morbidity and mortality. The VFC program provides crucial access to vaccines at no cost to children who might not otherwise be vaccinated because of a family’s inability to pay.

  • LFV Position: SUPPORT - Thank your State Senator

  • Enrolled

BILLS DEFERRED OR NOT CONSIDERED:

HB 372: (Reps. Edmonston, Amedee, Hodges, Horton, McCormick, and Charles Owen) Provides relative to mandates, requirements, recommendations, instructions, or guidance from federal or international organizations; Provides that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization do not have jurisdiction in this state; provides that no mandates, recommendations, instructions, or guidance from the CDC and WHO shall be used to justify any mask, vaccine, or medical testing requirements in this state.

  • State health officials should be allowed to consider guidance from national and international experts at CDC and WHO when considering policies for Louisiana to control the spread of disease. Legislation like this could have dire consequences, such as removing vaccine requirements in schools and hospitals, which will lead to increased disease outbreaks, hospitalizations, and death.

  • LFV Position: OPPOSE

  • Defeated by 7-4 vote in the House Health & Welfare Committee hearing on Tuesday, April 25

  • Rescheduled for SECOND House Health & Welfare Committee hearing on Wednesday, May 10 - Deferred

HB 158: (Reps. Edmonston, Amedee, Hodges, Horton, McCormick, and Charles Owen) Limits civil liability for refusal to require vaccinations for pandemic diseases and prohibits the denial of business permits and professional licenses for failure to require such vaccines.

  • Would allow businesses to ignore state health officials in the event of disease outbreak and willfully endanger the public's health.

  • LFV Position: OPPOSE

  • Pending House Civil Law & Procedure Committee - Not Considered

HB 471: (Rep. Barbara Freiberg) Authorizes pharmacy interns supervised by pharmacists and certified pharmacy technicians supervised by pharmacists to administer certain immunizations and vaccines; decreases the age threshold above which a person may receive an immunization or vaccine, other than one for influenza, from a licensee of the La. Board of Pharmacy.

  • LVF Position: MONITOR

  • Pending House Vote - Conference committee report rejected

HB 152: (Rep. Beryl Amedée) Proposed constitutional amendment adds the fundamental right of parents to decide the nurture, education, care, custody, and control of their children. Provides that any denial, infringement, or restriction of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.

  • LFV Position: MONITOR

  • Pending House Vote - Not Considered