NY State Senate Bill 2009-S2338

Senate Bill S2338

2009-2010 Legislative Session

Provides protections to parents who decline to have their children immunized on the basis of religious beliefs

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Health Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 06, 2010	referred to health
Feb 18, 2009	referred to health

co-Sponsors

2009-S2338 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A883
Current Committee:: Senate Health
Law Section:: Public Health Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§2164 & 2165, Pub Health L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2011-2012: A592
2013-2014: A2689

2009-S2338 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides protections to parents who decline to have their children immunized on the basis of religious beliefs; allows a parent to submit an affidavit stating that the parent, parents or guardian hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs.

2009-S2338 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2338

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the religious
exemption from mandatory immunizations for students


 PURPOSE :

This legislation is intended to protect parents from inappropriate and
intrusive inquiry into their religious beliefs by government
authorities.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section one of the bill makes clear that the legislative intent is not
to undermine the public health purpose of school immunization
legislation, but to protect people in the free exercise of their
religion from inappropriate and intrusive demands to explain or
justify their religious beliefs.

Section two amends subdivision 9 of section 2164 of the Public Health
Law applying to religious exemptions for minors, to exempt the child
from an immunization requirement where the parent files an affidavit
stating that the parent holds genuine and sincere religious beliefs

which are contrary to the practice, without being subject to further
inquiry. Section three makes the same change to subdivision 9 of
section 2165 of the Public Health Law applying to religious exemptions
for adult students.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Protection of free exercise of religion demands wariness in granting
state entities the power to cast judgment upon a person's religious
beliefs. This bill precludes the interpretation of the current
language reading "genuine and sincere" as creating a test that a
religious exemption claimant must pass to the satisfaction of health
or school authorities. It makes the exemption dependent only on the
filing an affidavit stating that the requisite religious beliefs are
held.

The current common practice of government agencies scrutinizing and
judging a parent's religious beliefs is inappropriate in a democracy
that values the First Amendment. There could be concern that some
parents might falsely claim a religious exemption. But it is greatly
outweighed by the burden that the intrusive, prolonged inquiry imposes
on bona fide objectors forced to defend their religious beliefs.
Including that the request for exemption be notarized impresses upon
the public the seriousness of the sincerity requirement and will be a
sufficient deterrent to potential false objectors.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

S.1563/A.3064 of 2007-08; S.4693/A.8383 of 2005-06.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

Savings to school boards which will no longer be engaged in
substantive review of requests for religious exemptions.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.

2009-S2338 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  2338

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 18, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. PADAVAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Health

AN ACT to amend the public health law,  in  relation  to  the  religious
  exemption from mandatory immunizations for students

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. This legislation is not intended to detract from the public
health purpose of school immunization  legislation.  The  law  has  long
recognized the right of parents to decline to have their children immun-
ized  on the basis of religious beliefs. This legislation is intended to
protect parents from inappropriate  and  intrusive  inquiry  into  their
beliefs by government authorities.
  S  2. Subdivision 9 of section 2164 of the public health law, as sepa-
rately amended by chapters 405 and 538 of the laws of 1989,  is  amended
to read as follows:
  9.  This  section  shall not apply to [children] A CHILD whose parent,
parents, or guardian [hold] HOLDS genuine and sincere religious  beliefs
which  are contrary to the practices herein required, and no certificate
shall be required as a prerequisite to [such children] THE  CHILD  being
admitted  or  received into school or attending school WHERE THE PARENT,
PARENTS OR GUARDIAN  SUBMITS  AN  AFFIDAVIT  STATING  THAT  THE  PARENT,
PARENTS  OR  GUARDIAN  HOLDS SUCH GENUINE AND SINCERE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
THE PARENT, PARENTS OR GUARDIAN SHALL NOT  BE  REQUIRED  TO  SPECIFY  OR
ELABORATE  ON  THE  NATURE,  GENUINENESS  OR  SINCERITY OF THE RELIGIOUS
BELIEF OR BE SUBJECT TO ANY FURTHER INQUIRY.
  S 3. Subdivision 9 of section 2165 of the public health law, as  added
by chapter 405 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows:
  9.  This  section  shall  not  apply to a person who holds genuine and
sincere religious beliefs which are contrary  to  the  practices  herein
required, and no certificate shall be required as a prerequisite to such
person being admitted or received into or attending an institution WHERE

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD00362-01-9

S. 2338                             2

THE PERSON SUBMITS AN AFFIDAVIT STATING THAT THE PERSON HOLDS SUCH GENU-
INE  AND  SINCERE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. THE PERSON SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO
SPECIFY OR ELABORATE ON THE NATURE,  GENUINENESS  OR  SINCERITY  OF  THE
RELIGIOUS BELIEF OR BE SUBJECT TO ANY FURTHER INQUIRY.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S2338

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Frank Padavan