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We are truly in the home stretch for most state legislative sessions.  Recently, we’ve heard reports that many of the most concerning anti-vaccine bills have either stalled or died either in committee or due to adjournment.  AIM will issue a retrospective later this summer tracking the trends in what was proposed, what became law, and what might come next.  We continue to see concerning anti-vax movements undermining existing state vaccine requirements. We want to highlight again the AIM template fact sheet that you could adapt to share your state’s story about how requirements save lives and keep communities safe – available here.  Finally, we want also to highlight a new organization called the SAFE Communities Coalition.  They bill themselves as the nation’s first pro-vaccine political advocacy organization and are working to support pro-vaccine legislation and lawmakers.

Legislatures have adjourned in more than half of the states and continue to wind down. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures tracker, 19 states remain in session, with seven of those states meeting year-round. The latest count from colleagues at ASTHO indicates that 228 vaccine-related bills were introduced this year, along with a roughly equal number that carried over from last year. Of bills introduced this year, the vast majority are no longer under active consideration – with 61 failing by a vote and most of the rest not considered before adjournment. Twenty-nine bills have been enacted, and about three dozen are still pending and have passed at least one chamber.

AIM’s policy team stands ready to assist as needed for those states still in session. Please contact AIM Chief Policy and Government Relations Officer Brent Ewig for help. Later this summer, AIM will create another full review to provide an overview of state legislative trends.