Article Image SUPPORT SB 1114 Adding Religious Exemption for School - @ AZ Capitol Tues Feb 19th, 2pm

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SUPPORT SB 1114 Adding Religious Exemption for School - @ AZ Capitol Tues Feb 19th, 2pm

Written by Irene Pi Subject: Arizona's Top News

Dear Arizona NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

We need your help to pass a wonderful bill for the families in Arizona, SB 1114 , by Senator Paul Boyer.

SB 1114 deserves your full support because it adds a religious exemption to vaccination for students through 12th grade! Currently school aged children only have a medical and personal exemption in Arizona.

SB 1114 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Education Committee at 2:00 pm in Room SHR, (agenda search tool).  We need you there to register your support of this bill and to give your 1 minute statement at the hearing! Our Arizona State Director Irene has requested that everyone wear something YELLOW. If you absolutely can't be there on the 19th, make your calls and send your emails before 2 p.m. on Tuesday (see below).  You can watch the hearing live here: https://www.azsenate.gov/live_broadcasts.asp.

Before getting into the details, please note that it is critical that everyone in Arizona who cares about your rights to vaccine exemptions and fully informed consent for vaccination plan on being at the Arizona state capitol on Tuesday February 19th to register support for this bill SB 1114 and also save the date to come as well on Thursday February 21st to register support 3 more great bills including the companion to this one HB 2470, HB 2471, and HB 2472. (look for another alert about Thursday soon)

ACTION ITEMS

1) Plan on attending the hearing for SB 1114 in the Senate Education Committee and signing in to register your support.

Tuesday, February 19, 2018, at 2pm in Room SHR (arrive at least an hour early, there is limited seating and you will need to Register Your Support for SB 1114 at one of the Committee Sign-in Kiosks), Arizona State Capitol, 1700 West Washington Phoenix, Arizona 85007.  Map of the capitol grounds and directions. There is free parking at the following locations:

Wesley Bolin Memorial Park Plaza 1690 W. Jefferson St Phoenix, AZ 85007 (across the street from the Capitol Complex) 

Capitol Parking Lot 1798 W. Jefferson St Phoenix, AZ 85007 

Overflow Public Parking 1218 W. Adams St Phoenix, AZ 85007

Parking Lot 1717 W. Jefferson St Phoenix, AZ 85007

To make things easier, Please CREATE AN RTS (Request to Speak) Account PRIOR to the hearing. You will need to activate your account while you are physically in the Capitol building in the House of Representatives or the Senate Lobby.  Once your account is created and then activated at the capitol, you will be able to access it remotely. This allows you to submit a position for bills showing you are FOR SB 1114 for the Committee Members and other legislators to see. It is important for legislators to see how many people support this bill.

Read this: https://www.azleg.gov/alisPDFs/RTS_Manual_public.pdf

Create Account: https://apps.azleg.gov/Account/SignOn

Wear business attire and be polite and respectful. At the hearing, you will be allowed one minute to state your name, where you are from, and your position on the bill and why it is important to your family. Write out your 1 minute statement in support of the bill and practice and time it so you stay under 1 minute. 

2) Call and email all the members of the Senate Education Committee and ask them to VOTE YES on SB 1114. Explain why having the option for a religious exemption is important to your family.  It is important to call and then follow up with an email. See talking points below.

Senate Education Committee Members:

·                Sylvia Allen (R)  602-926-5409

·                Kate Brophy McGee (R)  602-926-4486

·                Paul Boyer (R) SPONSOR  602-926-4173

·                Andrea Dallesandro  (D)  602-926-5342

·                Sally Ann Gonzales  (D)  602-926-3278

·                Rick Gray  (R)  602-926-5413

·                Tyler Pace  (R)  602-926-5760

·                Martin Quezada  (D)  602-926-5911

·                sallen@azleg.gov, kbrophymcgee@azleg.gov, pboyer@azleg.gov, adalessandro@azleg.gov, sgonzales@azleg.gov, rgray@azleg.gov, tpace@azleg.gov, mquezada@azleg.gov

3) Call or Visit your own Arizona Senator and ask them to Support SB 1114.  Follow up with an email.   See talking points below. If you do not know who your Arizona State Senator is, or their contact information, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the "State Teams" tab and then "My State," and your elected officials are automatically posted on the right hand side of the page http://NVICAdvocacy.org. You can also find your state legislators here: https://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp

4) Login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for updates.  http://NVICAdvocacy.org. We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process. 

5) Please forward this email to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org and share their concerns with their legislators as well.   

6) Please forward any legislative responses regarding this bill to our Arizona State Director Irene at AZDirector@NVICAdvocacy.org.

TALKING POINTS

SUPPORT SB 1114 which establishes that a pupil at any level or grade through twelfth grade is eligible for a religious exemption to vaccination. This does not create a new vaccine exemption, it creates a constitutionally protected subcategory of the current personal vaccine exemption already offered as an option in state law.

SB 1114 will decrease the number of personal exemptions as those who have religious belief exemptions who are currently utilizing the personal exemption will switch to religious exemptions.

SB 1114 extends the same constitutionally protected option for families transitioning from day care to school who already use a religious exemption. 

SB 1114 makes the necessary correction to vaccine exemption law to make it consistent with Arizona policy in so many other areas which respect and protect religious beliefs:

• Religious Freedom Restoration Act (A.R.S. §§ 41-1493 through 41-1493.02) - Protects the free exercise of religion from government interference, unless there is a compelling reason and the government uses the least restrictive means.

• Parents' Rights (A.R.S. § 1-602) - Parents have the right to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

• Patients (A.R.S. §§ 36-114, 36-184, 36-754, 36-787, 36-2208) - State and county health departments may not impose or require treatment against a person's religious beliefs as long as sanitary, preventative, and quarantine measures are followed to protect against the spread of disease. A person also is not required to be transported or provided emergency medical treatment if the person objects on religious grounds.

It's hypocritical for doctors to oppose adding a constitutionally protected religious exemption for vaccine mandates for school children when The American Medical Association, in section 9.133 Routine Universal Immunization of Physicians of the AMA Code of Ethics, affirm the right to religious and philosophical exceptions for themselves to not be vaccinated.  Doctors and other medical professionals already enjoy Arizona statutory protections where they are not required to provide services that conflict with their religious beliefs including abortion, abortion-inducing medication, emergency contraception, end of life care, and collection of umbilical cord blood. (A.R.S. §§ 32-3212; 36-112; 36-2154; 36-3205).

VOTE YES on SB 1114.

Sincerely,

NVIC Advocacy Team
National Vaccine Information Center
http://NVIC.org and http://NVICAdvocacy.org
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Members/ContactUs.aspx

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) works diligently to prepare and disseminate our legislative advocacy action alerts and supporting materials.  We request that organizations and members of the public forward our alerts in their original form to assure consistent and accurate messaging and effective action. Please acknowledge NVIC as originators of this work when forwarding to members of the public and like-minded organizations. To receive alerts immediately, register  at http://NVICAdvocacy.org, a website dedicated to this sole purpose and provided as a free public service by NVIC. 

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