Vacating The Vaccination Law

Sacramento, CA — Opponents to the new mandatory vaccination law passed by lawmakers want voters to have the final say.

Governor Jerry Brown last month signed a bill striking California’s personal belief exemption for school immunizations. A initiative that would repeal the law has just been cleared by California’s  Secretary of State, so that signature collections can begin that would put it on the 2016 ballot.

Last month, former state Assemblyman Tim Donnelly submitted the initiative just after the governor penned his signature to end the right of parents’ use of “personal beliefs” as an excuse to withhold their children from receiving required shots to attend public schools. Donnelly, a former Republican candidate for governor, is teaming up with another unlikely group of critics of vaccination — liberal organizations — that came out in force at the state capitol to oppose the new law.

Together, the group must collect nearly 366,000 signatures to get the bill on the November ballot. Additionally, the law also takes effect that year.