Amends and repeals existing law to revise provisions regarding immunizations in daycare and schools.
Summary
House Bill 290 revises Idaho’s immunization laws for licensed daycare facilities and K-12 schools. It keeps the basic framework requiring parents or guardians to provide immunization records for children attending daycare or school, but it reorganizes and updates the statutory language, adds a specific list of required vaccines for school entry, and preserves exemptions for medical reasons and for religious or other objections. The bill also expressly states that students who do not meet immunization requirements may be excluded from attendance, while exempt students may still be excluded during a disease outbreak.
The bill also makes related changes to Idaho’s immunization registry and notice provisions. It updates cross-references, repeals certain sections of code, and declares that two sets of administrative rules governing daycare and school immunization requirements will be null and void as of July 1, 2025. The bill includes an emergency clause, making it effective on July 1, 2025, and it preserves parents’ rights to opt out of registry participation, remove information from the registry, and refuse immunizations on religious or other grounds.
Impact
HB 290 would amend Idaho Code sections governing daycare and school immunization requirements, repeal sections 39-4802 and 39-4805, and update related cross-references in the immunization registry and notice statutes. It would also invalidate existing administrative rules in IDAPA 16.02.11 and 16.02.15, shifting the operative legal framework for immunization requirements directly into statute. The bill affects parents and guardians, daycare operators, schools, the Department of Health and Welfare, and students subject to immunization compliance rules.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill was generally supported but not unanimously: it passed the House 49-21 and the Senate 23-11. No committee transcript excerpts were provided, so there is no recorded discussion here to indicate detailed arguments for or against the measure. The vote margins indicate meaningful support for revising the immunization statutes, alongside a substantial minority opposed.
Contention
The main points of contention are likely the scope of immunization requirements and the preservation of exemptions. The bill expressly retains medical exemptions and religious or other objections for both daycare and school attendance, which may be supported by those emphasizing parental rights and opposed by those favoring stricter public health requirements. Another likely point of dispute is the bill’s decision to nullify existing administrative rules and repeal certain code sections, which changes how immunization policy is implemented and may be viewed as either a clarification of law or a reduction in regulatory authority.