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Your Voice is Need to Protect
Medically Vulnerable Children and Stop Discrimination

As we move deeper into this year's California legislative session, A Voice for Choice Advocacy is tracking bills that directly impact vaccine medical exemptions, privacy, and the rights of families in California. Today we are highlighting one bill that raises serious concerns and requires immediate engagement, and one that represents an important step in the right direction.



🛑 AB 2651 (Bonta) – School Vaccination Rate Disclosure ( [link removed] [[link removed]] ) AVFCA opposes this bill.

AB 2651 requires schools to report and notify parents of vaccination rates within the school community, including grade level data. The bill also gives the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) authority to define what constitutes acceptable levels of immunity, further centralizing control over vaccine policy and thresholds.

While presented as a transparency measure, the practical effect of this bill is to highlight and isolate the small number of students who are not fully vaccinated, the majority of whom are attending school with valid vaccine medical exemptions or other limited exemptions.

Key concerns:

* De facto identification of exempt students : In a system where access to school without full vaccination is extremely limited, publishing school and grade level rates makes it easy to infer which students hold vaccine medical exemptions
* Small sample size distortion : Data is collected primarily at the kindergarten and 7th grade levels, where class sizes can be small. One or two students with exemptions can significantly shift percentages and result in a school being flagged
* Risk of stigma and targeting : Families of exempt students, including those with serious medical conditions, may face increased scrutiny, pressure, or harassment
* Impact on vulnerable populations : Students with IEPs, long term vaccine medical exemptions, foster youth, and military families with temporary exemptions may be disproportionately affected
* Unnecessary duplication : Vaccination rate data is already publicly available through the CDPH website. This bill does not add meaningful transparency but instead amplifies and redistributes data in a way that increases risk to specific students
* Expansion of CDPH authority : Allowing CDPH to define acceptable immunity thresholds raises concerns about shifting standards without legislative oversight

AVFCA has requested a meeting with the author’s office to clarify intent and address these concerns and are awaiting a response.

Next Step: The bill has been referred to the Assembly Health Committee and the Assembly Education Committee. The hearing in the Assembly Health Committee will be on Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 1:30PM 1021 O Street, Room 1100
Assemblymember Bonta, the author of the bill is the Chair of the Assembly Health Committee so it is very likely to pass out of this committee.

Action Alert: TODAY, submit a letter to the Assembly Health and Education Committees through the California Legislature Position Letter Portal: [link removed] [[link removed]]


✅ SB 1377 (Jones) – Vaccine Medical Exemption Protections ( [link removed] [[link removed]] ) AVFCA strongly supports this bill.

AVFCA thanks Senator Brian Jones for his continued leadership and commitment to California families. For over 16 years, Senator Jones has stood firm on these issues, including opposing SB 277 (2015) and SB 276 (2019), and remains one of the few legislators consistently advocating to protect children and medical freedom.

SB 1377 seeks to strengthen and restore protections for vaccine medical exemptions in California by addressing the barriers physicians and families currently face when issuing and maintaining exemptions. The bill works to return medical decision making to treating physicians and protect patients from overly restrictive or inconsistent administrative review processes.

Specifically, the bill aims to:

* Reinforce the authority of licensed physicians to issue vaccine medical exemptions based on individual patient needs
* Provide clearer standards and protections for exemptions to reduce arbitrary denial or revocation
* Ensure that children with legitimate medical conditions are able to access education without unnecessary barriers

Bills addressing vaccine medical exemptions face significant challenges in the current legislative environment, particularly in committees that have historically been unsupportive. This will be a difficult path forward, but it is an important effort and one worth pursuing. AVFCA is actively engaging, leveraging our legislative relationships, and working strategically to support this bill as it moves through the process.

Next Step: The bill is still in the Senate Rules Committee waiting to be referred to one or more Senate policy committees. In order for it to move forward it will need to be heard in a policy committee by April 28th, 2026.

Where we go from here: Some bills require strong opposition to prevent harm, while others require sustained effort to advance meaningful protections. Both are essential to safeguarding families in California.

AVFCA remains committed to advocating for medically vulnerable children, informed consent, and policies that respect the role of families and physicians. AVFCA will continue to keep you informed and provide opportunities for engagement as these bills move forward.
📢 Please forward this email to others in California and encourage them to get involved. Encourage them to sign up for our newsletters on our website: [link removed] [[link removed]]

AVFCA is also actively following and supporting a number of additional bills this session, which can be found here: [link removed] [[link removed]] We will be sending a follow up email next week with a broader summary and opportunities for engagement.

For over a decade, AVFCA has worked closely with legislation and policy in California. We encourage you to rely on AVFCA as a trusted source for accurate, up-to-date information when it comes to bills in CA.

If you found this information helpful and appreciate the work A Voice for Choice Advocacy is doing, please support us by making a donation today.

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C
Christina Hildebrand
President/Founder
A Voice for Choice Advocacy, Inc.
[email protected] [[email protected]]
www.AVoiceForChoiceAdvocacy.org [[link removed]]
www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org [www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org]
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A Voice for Choice Advocacy
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