PROFILE
FROM Dorit Reiss
Ruling expected next week in suit to stop California’s tough vaccination law Some parents are so upset about California’s new mandatory vaccine law, they’ve filed a lawsuit to try to stop it. Seventeen families are suing the state in a San Diego court, claiming that SB-277 infringes on equal education rights. They say California is putting an undue burden on the free-exercise rights of parents and that a quarter million students who had personal belief exemptions in the past now won’t have access to a free and equal education. A judge heard arguments last week and is expected to rule next week.
Public Health and Public Outrage The anti-vaccination movement may be small in number, but it has enough angry people to pack hearing rooms in Sacramento, where Senate Bill 277 is under consideration. Last week, after hours of blistering testimony, the Senate Education Committee agreed to delay the measure. Now it has been amended, and today it passed by a vote of 7 to 2 — with no public input allowed.
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