Revision: June 1, 2021, 2:16 p.m.
Rep. Roy, Rock. 32
June 1, 2021
2021-1825h
05/10
Floor Amendment to SB 155-FN
Amend the title of the bill by replacing it with the following:
AN ACT codifying provisions included in select emergency orders issued by the governor in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of vaccination or immunity status, relative to childhood immunization, and relative to the immunization registry.
Amend the bill by inserting after section 10 the following and renumbering the original section 11 to read as 14 :
11 New Subdivision; State Commission for Human Rights; Prohibition on Discrimination Based on Vaccination or Immunity Status. Amend RSA 354-A by inserting after section 17 the following new subdivision:
Discrimination Based on Vaccination or Immunity Status Prohibited
354-A:17-a Discrimination Based on Vaccination or Immunity Status. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person or government entity to deny an individual access to goods, services, employment, housing, education, or places of public accommodation based on an individual's vaccination status or immunity status. For purposes of this subdivision, and except as authorized herein, it shall be unlawful:
I. For a person or government entity to ask about or make decisions based on vaccine status or immunity status in matters of housing.
II. For a person or government entity to ask about or in any way discriminate against an individual based on vaccine status or immunity status in matters of public accommodation, to include public and private transportation.
III. For the state or any political subdivision to pass any law, rule, ordinance or order that would require a vaccine or proof of vaccine status or immunity status by any citizen of New Hampshire.
IV. For any public or private university, college or other secondary school to require students or parents or guardians of minor students to provide proof of vaccination or immunity documentation where:
(a) A physician licensed under RSA 329, or a physician exempted under RSA 329:21, III, certifies that vaccination against a particular disease may be detrimental to the student’s health.
(b) A student or the parent or legal guardian of a minor student objects to vaccination because of religious beliefs, and the student or the parent or guardian of a minor student signs a notarized form stating that the student has not been vaccinated because of religious beliefs.
(c) A physician licensed under RSA 329, or a physician exempted under RSA 329:21, III, certifies that the student has sufficient antibody levels or previously contracted the illness for which vaccination is required, and is therefore immune.
V.(a) For an employer to ask about or make employment decisions based on an individual's vaccine status or immunity status except as provided in subparagraph (b).
(b) If the employer is a health care provider licensed under RSA 151, a public or private employer of emergency response/public safety workers as defined in RSA 281-A:2, V-c, a public school or a child day care provider licensed under RSA 170-E, the employer may inquire as to vaccination status, and require vaccination of employees, where a direct threat is determined to exist that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.
(1) In this subparagraph, “direct threat” means a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation. The determination that an individual poses a “direct threat” shall be based on an individualized assessment of the individual’s present ability to safely perform the essential functions of the job. This assessment shall be based on a reasonable medical judgment that relies on the most current medical knowledge and/or on the best available objective evidence. In determining whether an individual would pose a direct threat, the factors to be considered include:
(A) The duration of the risk;
(B) The nature and severity of the potential harm;
(C) The likelihood that the potential harm will occur; and
(D) The imminence of the potential harm.
(2) Subparagraph (b) shall not apply where no direct threat exists or where:
(A) A physician licensed under RSA 329, or a physician exempted under RSA 329:21, III, certifies that vaccination against a particular disease may be detrimental to the employee’s health.
(B) An employee objects to vaccination because of religious beliefs, and the employee signs a notarized form stating that the employee has not be vaccinated because of religious beliefs.
(C) A physician licensed under RSA 329, or a physician exempted under RSA 329:21, III, certifies that the employee has sufficient antibody levels or previously contracted the illness for which vaccination is required, and is therefore immune.
12 Communicable Disease; Immunization. Amend RSA 141-C:20-a, I to read as follows:
I. All parents or legal guardians shall have their children who are residing in this state immunized against certain diseases. These diseases shall include[, but not be limited to,] diphtheria, measles, mumps, pertussis, poliomyelitis, rubella, rubeola, [and] tetanus, and varicella. [The commissioner shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A relative to other diseases which require immunization.]
13 New Paragraph; Communicable Disease; Immunization Registry. Amend RSA 141-C:20-f by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:
II-a. Each patient, or the patient's parent or guardian if the patient is a minor, shall be given the opportunity to opt-in to the immunization registry. No patient’s immunization or vaccination information shall be entered into the registry without the explicit, written, opt-in consent of the patient, or the patient’s parent or guardian.
2021-1825h
AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill:
I. Establishes the position of temporary health partner.
II. Authorizes emergency licensing of medical providers.
III. Authorizes COVID-19 testing and vaccination by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
IV. Permits out-of-state pharmacies providing investigational drugs to clinical trial participants in New Hampshire to be temporarily licensed as mail-order pharmacies.
V. Protects the pre-existing, non-conforming use status of summer camps that were unable to operate during the summer of 2020 due to COVID-19.
VI. Establishes procedures to allow construction to continue during the pandemic.
VII. Temporarily allows expanded outdoor dining.
VIII. Prohibits discrimination based on an individual's vaccination or immunity status.
IX. Adds measles and varicella to the statutory list of diseases for which children are required to be immunized and removes the administrative rulemaking authority of the commissioner of the department of health and human services to expand this list.
X. Requires patients to affirmatively opt-in to the state immunization registry.