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Gov. Patrick Morrisey likely knew he was overreaching his authority when he signed an executive order in January allowing vaccine exemptions on the basis of religious objections for kids entering West Virginia schools.Â
The tell here is that he also ran a bill through the Legislature to codify the order. However, Senate Bill 460 got away from the administration's intent early on and, even once it got back on track, the Legislature, made of a Republican supermajority that would seem to align with Morrisey's goals, voted it down.Â
Morrisey claimed the executive order remains in effect, but now his administration is being taken to court under the argument that the governor of West Virginia doesn't have the power to execute such an order.Â
The governor was West Virginia's attorney general for 12 years, so he probably saw this coming and will, no doubt, mount a robust defense. But the bottom line is, it's bad policy that will get dragged through the litigation process, wasting time and taxpayer dollars.Â
West Virginia is one of five states that do not allow vaccine exemptions for children entering school unless there is a medical reason. And getting a medical exemption can be difficult. However, because of this policy, West Virginia is one of the few states that hasn't seen an outbreak of previously eradicated diseases. Lax laws allowing for religious or philosophical exemptions weren't really a problem in other states until the growth of the anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist communities.
West Virginia, Mississippi and California were, for a long time, the only states that didn't offer religious or philosophical exemptions. And while Mississippi caved to political pressure and recently loosened its vaccine policy, three states have recently adopted the same policies as West Virginia and California, because of measles and mumps outbreaks.Â
A bill to allow more exemptions for vaccines in West Virginia has been filed every legislative session for some time, but the issue has only recently gained traction. It certainly appeared that this would be the year it passed. But a few things happened that gummed up the works.
Morrisey didn't anticipate blowback from private and parochial schools that follow the current state policy and want to keep it that way. Many legislators in the Senate brought up this concern when the bill was being discussed. Lawmakers also questioned what constituted a religious exemption when it seemed proponents of the policy actually objected to public health law on philosophical grounds.Â
When the bill got to the House, religious and philosophical exemptions were stripped out during the committee process, while making medical exemptions easier to obtain was added. The exemptions were added, once again, during the amendment phase on the House floor but, in a move few saw coming, the bill was still voted down.Â
It's possible the bill just got too unwieldy in the eyes of legislators. More likely, the timing was bad. While the bill was being debated in West Virginia, a measles outbreak in Texas claimed the life of a child. It was the first measles death in the United States since 2015.Â
The Legislature made the right call, and things should've ended there. But Morrisey stuck to his guns and, now, this will be decided in the courts. What happens there is very difficult to predict. Just on the basis of Morrisey's argument -- which relies on an unrelated 2023 policy regarding religious freedom -- it seems likely an injunction against the executive order will be granted at some point.
However, it's also likely this will go all the way to the West Virginia Supreme Court, and that's where things get iffy.Â
Regardless, if an anti-vaccine bill can't clear the House of Delegates or Senate while both are under control of a GOP supermajority, it's a clear sign that it's a really bad proposal that threatens the health of West Virginia's children.
