Braving Freedom Legislative Update🇺🇸
What a difference a day and a friendly committee make!
There were several legislative successess on Wednesday, May 8th! We needed them after the devastating loss of Echols’ HB87 on Tuesday.
At long last, the Domangue amdendment is dead!
We can’t thank Senate Education Committee enough for their willingness to remove the AWFUL amendment added to Rep Kathy Edmonston’s HB47 on the House floor by freshman Rep Jessica Domangue. Special thanks to Senator Valarie Hodges who had the honor of stripping the amendment! Much gratitude to Senators Blake Miguez, Beth Mizell, and Chairman Rick Edmonds who acknowledged messages from their constituents regarding this legislation and voted to ensure parents are not fooled by schools.
Next up is a Senate floor vote so NOW is the time to contact your state senator and ask them to vote YES on HB47!
Also in friendly Senate Education Committee, HB908 by Rep Amedee passed unopposed! The committee makes all the difference!
Why is this bill so important?
Revised Statute 17:170 stipulates only one action may be taken in regards to children whose parents opt out of providing their child’s immunization information: possible exclusion during an outbreak.
During covid, the discrimination against unvaccinated students became so apparent that then Attorney Generel Jeff Landry was asked to weigh in. In a memorandum drafted in November 2021, AG Landry wrote:
“While La. R.S. 17:170 does not prohibit schools from imposing other safety measures that they believe to be necessary to preserve the health of students, faculty, and staff, and no statute or regulation specifically authorizes masking and testing protocols, any such additional safety measures should be applied in a nondiscriminatory and non-punitive fashion. As Judge Terry Doughty with the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana held recently, policies that are so punitive that they defeat the right itself will not withstand scrutiny.”
Despite the AG’s memorandum, there was widespread discriminatory actions taken against those individuals who chose to address preventative health differently.
Over the last several years, we heard of school principals who created seating charts according to vaccination status, we learned of students who were denied trips with their athletic teams or band because they were unvaccinated, and of course, at one point unvaccinated children were forced to mask while vaccinated children were not. Unfortunately, this is not just a bias during covid. We were recently made aware that a teacher asked for a show of hands in a classroom to identify those children who were not vaccinated for measles.
These are incredibly traumatizing events and an extremely unfair burden placed on children. The adults in the room must acknowledge that if their vaccine works, they have nothing to fear. If you are worried about those individuals who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons – this bill is for them! We don’t want anyone to be discriminated against because of their vaccination status!
A reminder: there are hundreds of viruses and bacteria that cause illnesses that we do not vaccinate against and yet we do not live in fear of them. In an effort to preserve human dignity and acknowledge that these biases are a reflection of an irrational fear, HB908 must pass to prevent the discriminatory actions that we saw take place in the past from happening in the future.
The next stop for HB908 is a vote on the Senate floor — contact your state senator and ask them to vote YES on HB908!
Rep Beryl Amedee’s HB357, the Central Bank Digital Currency bill, passed Senate Commerce without opposition! Next stop, Senate floor! A reminder that this bill passed last year but was vetoed by Edwards. Ask your state senator to vote YES on HB357!
You are up to date on all the news! As soon has we have the agenda for committees and floor votes next week, we will let you know!
The legislative session is underway once again!! We could really use your help filling up our gas tanks as we make the treck to Baton Rouge to fight for your health freedom!
If you find value in our work, please consider donating to us to help fund our efforts. We are 100% volunteer and do not get paid, but we give our time to research, inform, and empower others because we know it’s critical to maintaining our liberties. Parents must know their rights so they can protect their freedom.
For media inquiries, please email info@healthfreedomla.org
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