OOA Joins Coalition to Oppose HB 319

[June 25, 2024]

Before the Ohio General Assembly adjourned for summer recess, the OOA joined about 50 health and business organizations to voice opposition to HB 319, the Conscientious Right to Refuse Act. A letter outlining concerns with the legislation was sent to House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and House Health Provider Services Committee Chair Scott Oelslager (R-North Canton).

The bill, sponsored by State Reps. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester) and Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster), seeks to prohibit employers, including hospitals and other health facilities, from requiring employees to receive influenza, COVID, or other vaccines as a condition of employment or practice. This has been a hot topic at the Statehouse for several years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter notes, in part:

All Ohioans benefit from the crucial protections afforded to us by vaccines every single day, and HB 319 represents a real threat to this protection. The risk cannot be understated, and we emphasize that to risk one of our greatest assets in infectious disease prevention would not only make future outbreaks and epidemics more likely, but basically inevitable. We believe that we must work together to keep people safe and healthy, and HB 319 runs counter to that mission.

Read the letter here.