SB 871 Take Action

2022 Legislation

Take Action on SB 871

SB 871 Public health: immunizations. (Pan) This bill would add COVID-19 to the list of diseases for which a child must be immunized in order to attend school or daycare. This bill would also remove the personal belief exemption for any additional vaccine requirements added by the California Department of Health.

CURRENT STATUS: Author has put the bill on hold. Referred to Senate Health Committee and Senate Education Committee.

Step 1. Set Up Meeting

Contact the district office and request meeting. If you do not know who your state representatives are, go to FindYourRep.Legislature.CA.Gov.

If asked what the meeting is about, feel free to state a general concern such as education, health, or the pandemic.

Do not be discouraged if you are offered a meeting with a staffer rather than your legislator, or if it is on zoom vs. in person. Staffers play an important role in the legislative process.

Step 2. Get to Know your Legislator

Read your representatives' bio on their website. What are their interests? What bills have they authored in the past? How have they voted on issues you care about?

Find a common interest in order to establish relatability.

Step 3. Prepare Documents to Take to Meeting

Create your own one page document with the top three concerns you have. Bullet points are helpful as legislators and staffers are dealing with hundreds of bills.

Also, share our "Five Questions and Serious Concerns about SB-871: Public health: immunizations" (see below). This is a powerful tool to point out the deficiencies of the bill.

Step 4. Dress and Act Professionally

When meeting with legislators and staffers, the goal is to build positive relationships. This is easy to do if expressing views in polite and respectful ways.

Representatives and their staff are just ordinary people that are generally very personable and friendly.

For a more in depth training on the legislative process and meeting with legislators, watch this video.

TaKe Action 2:
Submit Your Opposition Letter to Policy Committees

Make sure that your position on this bill is heard and put on record by submitting you comments to the California Legislature Position Letter Portal.(Watch Video Tutorial)

Comments will be shared with the appropriate policy committee members hearing the bill.

Sample Comment:

"I oppose SB 871, which would add COVID-19 to the list of diseases for which a child must be immunized in order to attend school or daycare and would remove the personal belief exemption for any additional vaccine requirements added by the California Department of Health. SB 871 is not necessary at this time and would have a negative impact on children, especially minority and economically disadvantaged populations.”

You might add a personal experience or talking points outlined below.

Talking Points for SB 871

Specific Ask: Oppose SB 871 or abstain from voting on the bill.

Main Talking Points

SB 871 could result in unintended consequences such as impacting school districts funding, discrimination of minority populations and the economically disadvantaged, and the worsening of mental health of children that will be forced into online school.
The data on children and COVID-19 mortality and morbidity and the fact that many children have naturally acquired immunity does not warrant a mandate
The risk of myocarditis associated with the vaccine outweigh the benefits for children and the goal of this bill cannot be met because vaccinated individuals can contract and transmit COVID-19.
Removing the personal beliefs exemption for COVID-19 vaccine and future vaccines will shift the responsibility for adding vaccines to the requirements from the legislature, where constituents have a voice, to an agency of unelected officials where there is very limited ability for individuals to impact policy.
This legislation does not ensure equity for family members who hold sincere religious beliefs because it does not provide a religious and conscientious beliefs exemption that is available to employees.