CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – The House of Delegates has rejected a bill that would have allowed religious exemptions to vaccine requirements in schools.
56 delegates voted no on Senate Bill 460, while 42 voted yes.
The bill was an amended version of a piece of legislation passed by the State Senate earlier in the session. The version passed by the Senate would have allowed parents to object to vaccination requirements on philosophical and religious grounds.
The bill was extremely controversial once it arrived in the House of Delegates. The House Health and Human Resources committee stripped religious and philosophical exemptions from the bill.
Once it made it to the House floor, an amendment that allowed for religious exemptions was added back to the bill. Even with that amendment, the bill ultimately failed.
The Delegate that led that amendment, Delegate David Green from McDowell County, spoke on the floor Monday in support of the bill, saying it was more about religious freedom than vaccination exemptions. He said, “This isn’t vaccine freedom. This is religious freedom. People are pushing this bill so they don’t have to vaccinate their children, but they are pushing this for them to have liberty and freedom to choose how to take care of their children so that they can, with clear conscience, stand before an almighty God, knowing that they have fulfilled their God-given responsibility and take care of their children in the way that they feel is best. You don’t let fear, frustration rule the day, friends. Let us let freedom ring. Liberty swell and let us keep our oath to uphold the values that our state and nation have been founded upon.”
The bill was one of Governor Patrick Morrisey’s requested pieces of legislation and mirrors an executive order he signed, directing the state government to work to institute vaccine exemptions.
West Virginia’s last three health officials sent a letter to lawmakers, asking them to reject the bill.
After more than an hour and a half of debate on the House floor, lawmakers decided not to pass the bill in its current form.
Delegate Kayla Young said religious freedom does not override public health concerns. Young said, “I’m talking about our founding fathers today because they gave us freedom and liberty. And they also, very importantly, solidified and respected the fact of practicing your faith freely, always. They understood that the right to practice your faith does not include the liberty to expose each other to disease. They thought that freedom should not come at the cost of the suffering of each other.”
Also at the State Capitol on Monday, Governor Patrick Morrisey signed a bill that will ban a slew of food dyes in school lunches and in stores around the state.
Those food dyes will be banned in school lunches starting in August. They will be banned in stores statewide starting on January 1, 2028.
Dyes banned
- Red Dye 3
- Red Dye 40
- Yellow Dye 5
- Yellow Dye 6
- Blue Dye 1
- Blue Dye 2
- Green Dye 3
