SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Assembly is taking up a highly contested bill to boost vaccination rates in schools.
The legislation aims to increase school immunization rates by eliminating the personal belief exemption. It comes after a December outbreak of measles at Disneyland that infected more than 100 people in the U.S. and Mexico.
The Assembly Health Committee will consider SB277 Tuesday afternoon, after the Senate passed the bill with bipartisan support last month.
Opposition to the bill has been heated, and hundreds of parents who oppose the measure plan to rally at the Capitol before the hearing.
Democratic Sens. Richard Pan of Sacramento and Ben Allen of Santa Monica, the bill’s sponsors, say most resistance to vaccination comes from misinformation.
Their bill would limit medical waivers to children who have health problems.
