2023 23LSO-0321
STATE OF WYOMING
SENATE FILE NO. SF0162
Grace Smith Medical Freedom Act.
Sponsored by: Senator(s) Biteman, Brennan, Hutchings,
Salazar and Steinmetz and Representative(s)
Andrew and Jennings
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to education; requiring state and county
2 health officers to grant waivers to immunization
3 requirements for K-12 students upon request; requiring
4 state and county health officers to grant mask mandate
5 waivers for K-12 students upon request; and providing for
6 an effective date.
7
8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
9
10 Section 1. W.S. 21-4-309(a) and by creating a new
11 subsection (e) is amended to read:
12
13 21-4-309. Mandatory immunizations for children
14 attending schools; exceptions; mask mandate waivers.
15
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1 (a) Any person attending, full or part time, any
2 public or private school, kindergarten through twelfth
3 grade, shall within thirty (30) days after the date of
4 school entry, provide to the appropriate school official
5 written documentary proof of immunization. For purposes of
6 this section, documentary proof of immunization is written
7 certification by a private licensed physician or his
8 representative or by any public health authority, that the
9 person is fully immunized. Documentation shall include
10 month, day and year of each required immunization received
11 against vaccine preventable disease as designated by the
12 state health authority. No school administrator shall
13 permit a student to attend school for more than thirty (30)
14 calendar days without documentary proof of immunization.
15 If immunization requires a series of immunizations over a
16 period of more than thirty (30) calendar days, the child
17 shall be permitted to attend school while receiving
18 continuing immunization if the school administrator
19 receives written notification by a private licensed
20 physician or his representative or by a public health
21 official, specifying a written schedule for necessary
22 immunization completion within the medically accepted time
23 period. Waivers to the administration of required
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1 immunizations for preventable diseases shall be authorized
2 granted by the state or county health officer upon
3 submission of a written evidence of religious objection or
4 medical contraindication to the administration of any
5 vaccine request by the child's parent, legal guardian or
6 other adult person authorized to consent to medical
7 treatment of the child seeking the waiver. The state or
8 county health officer shall grant the requested
9 immunization waiver within seven (7) business days of
10 receiving the request for waiver. In the presence of an
11 outbreak of vaccine preventable disease as determined by
12 the state or county health authority, school children for
13 whom a waiver has been issued and who are not immunized
14 against the occurring vaccine preventable disease shall be
15 excluded from school attendance for a period of time
16 determined by the state or county health authority, but not
17 suspended from school as provided in W.S. 21-4-305.
18 Children excluded from school attendance under this section
19 shall not be counted in the aggregate number of pupils
20 absent as defined in W.S. 21-13-101(a)(i).
21
22 (e) The state or county health officer shall grant
23 waivers to any mask mandate imposed on any person
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1 attending, full or part time, any public school,
2 kindergarten through twelfth grade, upon submission of a
3 written request by the child's parent, legal guardian or
4 other adult person authorized to consent to medical
5 treatment of the child seeking the waiver. The state or
6 county health officer shall grant the requested waiver
7 within seven (7) business days of receiving the request for
8 waiver.
9
10 Section 2. This act is effective immediately upon
11 completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law
12 as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming
13 Constitution.
14
15 (END)
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 21-4-309