Dear Homeschool Families,

I am delighted to report that HB19-1312 (School Immunization Requirements) is officially dead!

Here are links to this breaking story:

• Controversial Vaccination Bill Abandoned in Colorado Senate
• Vaccination Bill Dead in Colorado Senate Amid Concerns from Governor

We praise God for this answer to MANY prayers, and we recognize His mercy upon us in causing this bill to die today.

We are also incredibly grateful for all of you who joined CHEC in opposing this bill. Even though it seemed like a “lost cause” at points, you continued to fight. You need to know that the time and effort you put into taking action against this bill PAID OFF. YOU are a big part of the reason this bill failed!

Finally, we want to give a big shout-out and very special thanks to Mike Donnelly and the rest of his team at HSLDA who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with CHEC against this bill each step of the way. Their influential opposition was so important, and the role they played in defeating this bill is just one of the reasons that we encourage EVERY homeschool family to support what they do by joining HSLDA as a member. I encourage you to celebrate this victory by doing just that today!

Now, because the last 36 hours have been a bit of a whirlwind, here is a short recap of the events leading up to this important victory.

• HB19-1312 was referred to the Senate Finance Committee yesterday morning and was scheduled to be heard later in the day by that committee.
• As soon as we learned this, CHEC sent out an email urging our constituency to call and email the members of the Senate Finance Committee to voice opposition to HB19-1312 and to come to the Capitol to show their opposition by attending the hearing and providing testimony against the bill.
• CHEC Executive Director Steve Craig and CHEC Legislative Liaison Carolyn Martin were joined by hundreds of concerned parents at the Capitol to testify against the bill in the hearing which began at 8 pm.
• Approximately 600 opponents of the bill signed up to testify (along with approximately 30 proponents).
• However, the Committee Chair limited testimony to a total of 2 hours per side which meant that a very small percentage of the bill opponents (roughly 60 people) were allowed to testify. Although Senators Hill and Lundeen tried hard to convince the committee chair to allow the testimony to be extended, she was set on limiting the testimony so as to not allow another 12+ hour hearing (such as what took place in the House Health & Insurance Committee hearing).
• The hearing went past 1 am this morning with the bill passing through the Senate Finance Committee on a party line vote of 4-3. During the hearing some of the committee members who were in support of the bill did voice concern about some elements of the bill and suggested that improvements needed to be made to the bill. It was agreed that these “improvements” could be made during second reading, which was scheduled for this morning.
• However, in God’s providence, the second reading of HB19-1312 was laid over until tomorrow, which does not allow enough time for the bill to proceed through third reading and passage, thus killing the bill.

We are sure that even more “behind the scenes” details on all of the factors involved in this conclusion will emerge over the upcoming days and weeks.

But today, we give thanks and praise to God for this gracious result, and we encourage you to be sure to take time as a family to give Him the praise and worship He is due.

Once again, thank you for joining us in this fight!

To God Be The Glory!

Steve Craig
CHEC Executive Director

Carolyn Martin
CHEC Homeschool Legislative Liaison