DENVER — Colorado’s heated vaccine debate picked up where it left off last year at the statehouse Wednesday as impassioned parents, medical providers and even kids testified on both sides of a bill which would regulate exemptions for schoolchildren.
Senate Bill 163 would standardize the exemption form, which supporters say would allow them to better collect and analyze data about why parents choose not to vaccinate their kids.
The third floor of the state Capitol was buzzing throughout the day as each of 317 people waited for three minutes to address the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
After 15 1/2 hours of testimony, the committee voted 3-2 to send the bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the next step in what recent history suggests will be a march of long hearings and raised passions by the time the bill reaches the governor's desk before the session ends on May 6.
Opponents substantially outnumbered those in favor at the first hearing.
A similar bill last year died on the calendar after Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and a vocal contingent of parents opposed it. This year, however, Polis is supporting the legislation, saying “it strikes the right balance” between protecting parental rights and public health.
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