After California became the epicenter of a measles outbreak earlier this year, the state’s legislature proposed a tough, new bill making vaccinations for children attending public school mandatory (with few exceptions.)
Governor Jerry Brown just signed that bill into law.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed into law one of the nation’s strictest childhood vaccination requirements, approving a bill that generated multiple protests and controversy as it moved through the Legislature.Senate Bill 277, authored by Sacramento pediatrician state Sen. Richard Pan and former Santa Monica-Malibu school board president state Sen. Ben Allen, eliminates parents’ ability to claim “personal belief” exemptions to schoolchildren’s vaccine requirements at both private and public schools in California.Only medical exemptions, approved by a doctor, will be allowed under the law. A licensed physician will have to write a letter explaining the child’s medical circumstances that make immunization unsafe for that child.
Opponents are so unhappy with the new rule that they began preparing a lawsuit before the ink had dried.
But opponents who have rallied against the bill at the state Capitol, saying the legislation violates their parental rights, immediately vowed both to sue the state and take their case to California voters.”We are going to have a referendum to ask the public to put a hold on the law,” said Palo Alto resident Christina Hildebrand, president and co-founder of A Voice For Choice. “We will continue to fight this — we are not going away,” said the mother of two unvaccinated children.
It looks like he’s now off the guest list for A-list Hollywood parties:
Talk about ungrateful! It was only last September that Brown signed another bill giving Hollywood millions of dollars in film-industry incentives. There was even a film czar that played a key role in getting the legislation passed!
He wasn’t a “corporate fascist” then, and the move actually helped struggling state businesses.
Hollywood could soon reclaim its once-shaky status as America’s production headquarters. After a near panic touched off by a nationwide spending spree on state incentives for film and television production, programs around the country have begun scaling back or shutting down altogether, leaving California in a persistent but much diminished race for the spoils.The Golden State’s new $330 million incentive program has helped renew confidence that California policymakers won’t give up on staying competitive.
Now if we could only convince Brown that tax relief would work just was well in other industries, California might be golden again.
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