Latest news with #LaceyHull
Int'l Business Times
28-05-2025
- Health
- Int'l Business Times
Texas Lawmakers Look to Make Child Vaccine Exemptions Easier for Parents as Measles Outbreak Continues
Texas lawmakers have approved a bill to simplify the vaccine exemption process for schoolchildren—just as the state contends with its worst measles outbreak in decades. On Sunday, the Texas Senate passed House Bill 1586 in a 23-9 vote. The legislation, authored by Rep. Lacey Hull, doesn't alter the state's vaccine schedule but makes it easier for parents to opt out by allowing them to download exemption forms online rather than requesting them through the mail, as reported by the Texas Tribune. Since 2003, Texas law has allowed parents to claim vaccine exemptions for their children based on medical, religious, or conscientious grounds. Over the years, demand for exemptions has surged, doubling from 45,900 in 2018 to over 93,000 in 2024. The move to make vaccine exemptions easier comes as the state is currently experiencing a major measles outbreak, with 729 cases reported since January and two confirmed child deaths. Supporters, including groups like Texans for Vaccine Choice, hailed the bill as a win for parental rights and government efficiency. Meanwhile critics, including public health advocates and The Immunization Partnership, warn the bill will lead to a drop in vaccination rates and a rise in preventable diseases. They argue that easier access to exemptions will compound current health risks, especially as the state grapples with an ongoing measles crisis. Gov. Greg Abbott now has the final say on whether the bill becomes law. Originally published on Latin Times
27-05-2025
- Health
New Texas bill makes it easier to request vaccine exemptions
Texas lawmakers have passed a bill that would make it easier for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children, despite the current measles outbreak in West Texas. The bill -- HB 1586 -- would allow parents to download and fill out a form available on the Texas Department of State of Health Services website to exempt their children from all vaccinations required to attend public school. Under current state law, a person claiming an exemption from required immunizations must submit a written request to the department requesting an affidavit form. They would then complete an affidavit on a form and disclose the reason for the exemption, according to Texas law. Republicans have argued it simplifies the process, and saves money, while Democrats have argued it could lessen immunity -- especially during an ongoing measles outbreak. "This will save taxpayer dollars in printing and mailing, increase government efficiency, and ensure kids are enrolled in school on time, guaranteeing children their fundamental right to an education," Republican state Rep. Lacey Hull, who introduced the bill, said on social media after it passed the House. Democratic state Rep. John Bryant said on social media, "This session, over a dozen bills have been filed to weaken vaccine mandates, promote immunization exemptions, and eliminate reporting requirements. Just last month, a second unvaccinated child died from the measles outbreak in Texas. ... The spread of misinformation has led to preventable deaths and hurts our public health. I urge everyone to elect people who put science and the well being of others over political ideology." In addition to measles, Bryant also cited the past benefits of vaccination against polio and, more recently, COVID-19. As of Tuesday, there have been 729 confirmed cases of measles in Texas -- primarily in West Texas -- according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. There have been two deaths in Texas among school-aged children, according to the department. The best way to prevent getting sick is to be immunized with two doses of a vaccine against measles, with two doses of the MMR vaccine preventing more than 97% of measles infections, according to the department. Parents or individuals requesting an exemption must sign a document saying they understand the "benefits and risks of immunizations and the benefits and risks of not being immunized," the bill states. To become law, the bill -- which passed in the Senate on Sunday, 11 days after the House -- needs to be signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. It would go into effect beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, according to the bill. ABC News has reached out for comment on whether the governor plans to sign the bill. Current law requires the department to maintain a record of the total number of affidavit forms sent out each year and provide that information to the legislature. The proposed bill would allow the department to maintain a record of the total number of times the form was accessed or requested online, but it would no longer be required. Measles infections in the U.S. have surpassed 1,000 cases, according to most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year's total number of cases is the second-highest case count in 25 years, according to data from the CDC. About 96% of measles cases are among those who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, according to CDC data. At least three deaths have been confirmed this year -- two children and one adult -- all of whom were unvaccinated.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas House passes 'Make Texas Healthy Again' bill after barrage of weakening amendments
Schoolchildren would have increased exercise and nutrition course requirements, and food manufacturers would be required to label products containing a long list of potentially harmful ingredients under legislation passed Monday by the Texas House. However, its sponsor warned that last-minute changes could weaken at least part of the bill. SB 25 was filed and made a legislative priority to address documented increases in obesity, diabetes and some cancers, said state Rep. Lacey Hull, the Houston Republican carrying the legislation in the House. The bill passed without opposition in the Senate and has Democratic and Republican cosponsors in the House. "This is about the MAHA parents and the crunchy-granola parents coming together to say we are sick and tired of being sick and tired," Hull said, referencing the "Make America Healthy Again" initiative from the Trump administration. "This is Republicans and Democrats coming together for Texas kids." During a four-hour debate, Hull repeatedly emphasized that the White House was looking to Texas to lead the way on state-level nutrition requirements. Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently released a report highlighting ultraprocessed foods and environmental toxins as driving causes of chronic disease, and he has announced he will ask the food industry to phase out artificial dyes. "With this bill, Texas will lead the nation," Hull said. Under SB 25, manufacturers would be required to warn consumers if their products contain ingredients deemed "not recommended for human consumption" by authorities in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom. This applies to additives such as Red Dye 40, butylated hydroxyanisole, propylparaben, or synthetic trans fatty acids. 'The choice being: you're going to put the label on your food, or you're going to take those additives out of your food,' the bill's author, Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, said on March 5. But an amendment added Sunday night could undermine that aspect of the proposal. Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, introduced a change that nullifies labeling requirements for ingredients regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or federal law. VanDeaver argued the amendment would prevent manufacturers from navigating conflicting federal and state standards, but Hull countered that it effectively guts the bill. "The entire point of this bill is because of decades of federal inaction," Hull told her colleagues on the floor. "Federal preemption is another attempt to kill this bill and prevent any change from happening, just like we've seen in D.C. for years. None of us ran for office to take direction from congressmen in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco. Texas is not waiting." VanDeaver's amendment succeeded 79-48. Tensions ran high as House members from both parties sought to roll back other aspects of the legislation. Hull accused the food industry of trying to water down the legislation, remarking that SB 25 should be renamed "the Lobby Employment Act of 2025." She amended it on the floor to remove high fructose corn syrup and aspartame from the list of ingredients subject to labeling requirements, saying Texas supermarket chain H-E-B and Bluebell Ice Cream had requested those and other changes. "This is about the average Texan in the grocery store wanting to make healthy choices against a multi-trillion dollar industry," she said. "Members, we need to break the system and address chronic disease." An amendment by Republican Rep. Pat Curry, of Waco, would have replaced several of the mandates with a study to "examine the scientific necessity and efficacy" of the requirements in the measure. Hull said the amendment again "guts the entire bill" and moved to kill the amendment outright. Members rebuffed her request. The change appeared set to pass until Kolkhorst entered the chamber and engaged in an animated discussion near the speaker's desk, out of earshot of most members and reporters on the floor. Hull made a last-ditch appeal for the amendment to be voted down, and this time most members complied. Before that, the House approved a Democrat-led amendment to strike the bill's college nutrition course requirements in a 114-25 vote. "I love a little government overreach, but even this is too much," Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu of Houston said of the course requirements. "This is telling grown adult people, people in universities, in college already, what's good for them." The House version of the bill does preserve beefed-up requirements for physical education and health classes. All public high school students would be required to take a half-credit of nutrition education under SB 25, which must return to the Senate for consideration of changes made in the House. The measure also reinstates a requirement that students take PE classes for all three years of middle school. Students can seek exemptions for out-of-school sports. According to the bill, school officials "may not restrict participation in recess or other physical activity" to penalize poor academic performance or misbehavior for public school children in kindergarten through grade 5. PE cannot be restricted because of academic performance or misbehavior in grades 6, 7 and 8. When it came time for Monday's final vote on the bill, which differs from the Senate's version, the House delivered a lopsided and bipartisan 116-24 vote in favor. The Senate will now consider the changes made by the House. But Wu, the Democratic caucus chair, said the bill is a "boondoggle" and "a sugar pill" that falsely purports to address the poorest Texans' struggles to feed their families. "It's designed to take your attention away from the core problems that we have in our society," Wu said. "If you want to make kids healthier, if you want to make families healthier, you should focus on the family. We should be asking why parents don't have enough time to prepare nutritious meals." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Bipartisan 'Make Texas Healthy Again' bill passes Texas House
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
House vote advances ‘Make Texas Healthy Again' bill
AUSTIN (Nexstar) – Legislation dubbed the 'Make Texas Healthy Again' bill advanced in the Texas House Sunday night. The 105-28 vote showed bipartisan support for Senate Bill 25. The bill would require daily physical activity in public schools, a nutrition curriculum and food labels to warn Texas consumers which ingredients are banned in other countries. 'This is about the average Texan in the grocery store wanting to make healthy choices against a multi trillion dollar industry,' bill sponsor State Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston said as she presented the legislation on the House floor. 'Members we need to break the system and address chronic disease,' Hull added. SB 25 would establish the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee to create nutritional guidelines for Texans and examine links between food additives and chronic health. The seven-member committee would be appointed by the governor. The legislation would create additional physical education requirements for public school and charter school students. The bill also adds a requirement for the State Board of Education to adopt standards for students to learn about nutritional guidelines. Those guidelines would be recommended by the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee. The bill mirrors some of the elements of the 'Make America Healthy Again' commission established by President Donald Trump and led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., also known as MAHA. The MAHA commission has raised concern over life expectancy in the United States falling below that of other comparable countries. The commission has called for an emphasis on nutrition, lifestyle, and physical activity and for addressing an 'over-reliance on medication and treatments.' 'This is about the MAHA parents coming together with the crunchy granola parents coming together to say we are sick and tired of being sick and tired,' Hull said during her layout. She confirmed that the legislation shares the goals of the Trump administration. 'I have personally spoken to the White House, who said they are looking to us, to Texas, to get this done, to stand for our children and our future,' Hull said during her bill layout. The bill passed the Senate in March with unanimous support. That was not the case Sunday in the House. The vote on Senate Bill 25 came after Democrats attempted to block the legislation six different times by raising a point of order. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle proposed amendments to the bill, 19 in all. Most of the proposed amendments were rejected. The moves slowed down the process of passing SB 25, pushing back consideration of other legislation on the House calendar. The House faces a Tuesday deadline to advance Senate bills on second reading. State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, voted against the bill, despite being in favor of many of the items in the legislation. 'I actually had high hopes for this bill when it was announced because some of the issues, especially dealing with chemicals, dealing with additives, are things that are important to me,' Wu said. 'What I did not expect was that this bill would turn into such a beast that there will be so many musts and shalls just jam down everyone's throats,' Wu continued, referencing concerns he had with the additional requirements on students that he believe could take time away from academics. State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, acknowledged that she saw flaws with the legislation, but she believes the bill will help Texans. 'A lot of the Democratic amendments you heard today were very sincerely put before you because we thought that there were things we could do that could make the bill better,' Howard said. 'But the fact is, I am going to be supporting this bill. I think it takes us in a good direction.' Before the final vote, Hull told her colleagues that Kennedy had called her and praised the bill. 'This is the best bill in the entire nation. They are watching, and they want us to pass this bill,' Hull said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Drag story time bill heard for first time in Texas House committee
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Members of a Texas House committee debated legislation for the first time that would penalize public libraries for hosting a drag story time event for children. The chamber never took up similar legislation just two years ago, effectively killing it during the previous session, so Monday's hearing could revive an item identified as a priority by some Texas Republicans. The House Committee on State Affairs took no action Monday morning on Senate Bill 18, which would strip public funding for any library that hosts a kids' reading event led by a drag performer. The committee left it pending after hearing from several witnesses who mostly spoke in opposition to the proposal, though one member suggested Monday it's likely to pass the committee and potentially go to the House floor for an official vote. Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Spring Branch, introduced the bill at Monday's committee hearing, the next step in the legislative process after it landed in the House's lap following approval earlier this year in the Texas Senate. The legislation, authored by Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes of Mineola, passed along party lines in the upper chamber and proposes that a 'municipal library may not receive state or other public funds if the library hosts an event at which a man presenting as a woman or a woman presenting as a man reads a book or a story to a minor for entertainment and the person being dressed as the opposite gender is a primary component of the entertainment.' Additionally, that funding freeze would take effect during the fiscal year that follows whenever the drag story time event happened. Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, first asked Hull whether this proposed law would require libraries to check the genitals of any speakers who read to children to confirm their sex so that they're not in violation. 'I believe that would be up to the library to decide that,' Hull responded, offering no further explanation. A total of 14 witnesses signed up Monday to speak publicly about the legislation, with only three of those people doing so in support of it. Megan Benton, who works with the conservative advocacy group Texas Values, said the bill is needed to protect children from the confusion of seeing someone dressed in drag and concerns about them being exposed to inappropriate content. 'If libraries allow events inappropriate for children, yet marketed to them, to take place, public libraries stop being a safe place for children,' Benton said. 'When men dress as women and vice versa in front of children, it creates confusion of their ever-growing minds.' The other 11 speakers who said they opposed the measure included Brigitte Bandit, an Austin-based drag performer who sometimes hosts reading events for kids and their families. She came to the Capitol in 2023 to decry the previous version of this legislation, Senate Bill 1601, which passed the Senate but failed to be considered in the House. At Monday's hearing, she wore a dress with the Texas flag and a list of the names of church leaders who she said had been accused of abusing children in the last year. 'Drag story times promote inclusivity, acceptance, kindness, empathy, compassion and literacy, which Texas lacks in,' Bandit said. 'Why are we attacking drag queens? These bills do nothing to protect children. If you truly cared about protecting children, maybe you'd do something about the many pastors who have been exposed for harming children, whose names I wear on the front of my dress.' The House state affairs committee could take up SB 18 again at a later date. If it's approved there, then that would set it up potentially for discussion and an eventual vote on the House floor before the session ends on June 2. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
