F0176AA18B0C32E3872586D30072C7B0 Hearing Summary

Representative Ransom,
bill co-sponsor, presented HB21-1191. The bill prohibits the state
from making any COVID-19 vaccine mandatory and further prohibits employers,
including health facilities, from making the COVID-19 vaccine a condition
of employment or taking adverse action against an employee based on their
vaccine status. In addition, no government agency, commercial establishment
or enterprise, service provider, or nonprofit association may discriminate
against a client, patron, or customer based on COVID-19 vaccine status.
The bill permits a person aggrieved by alleged discrimination to
file a civil action for injunctive relief and damages in civil court.

The bill sponsors distributed two handouts to the committee (Attachments
B and C).

03:16:51 PM

Representative Van
Beber, bill co-sponsor, continued introducing the bill.

03:23:57 PM

Dr. Anuj Mehta, Colorado
Vaccine Equity Task Force, testified in opposition to the bill. Dr.
Eric France, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, testified
in opposition to the bill. Dr. Kweku Hazel, representing himself,
testified in opposition to the bill. The panelists responded to questions
from the committee.

03:47:03 PM

Kevin Williams, Colorado
Cross-Disability Coalition, testified in opposition to the bill. Dorothy
Jones, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, testified in opposition to the
bill. George Sparks, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, testified
in opposition to the bill. Lauren Masias, Colorado Competitive Council,
testified in opposition to the bill. Jeff Keener, South Metro Denver
Chamber, testified in opposition to the bill. The witnesses responded
to questions from the committee members.

04:12:04 PM

Joshua Ewing, Colorado Hospital Association, testified in opposition to the bill. Dr. Craig Anthony, Colorado Academy of Family Physicians, testified in opposition to the bill. Emily Zadvorny, Colorado Pharmacists Society, testified in opposition to the bill. The panelists responded to questions from the committee.

04:31:26 PM

Emma Pinter, Counties & Commissioners Acting Together, testified in opposition to the bill. Dr. Cynthia Hazel, OMNI Institute, testified in opposition to the bill. Kate Brooks, Colorado Immunization Advocates, testified in opposition to the bill. Ms. Andrea Stojsavljevic, Healthier Colorado, testified in opposition to the bill. Julia Ellington, Colorado Vaccine Equity Taskforce, testified in opposition to the bill. The panelists responded to questions from the committee.

04:55:53 PM

Dr. Raymond Goodrich, Colorado State University, testified in opposition to the bill. Kelly Grenham, Colorado Association of School Nurses, testified in opposition to the bill. Lilian Baiden, Colorado Vaccine Equity Taskforce, testified in opposition to the bill. Dr. Edwin Asturias, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado, testified in opposition to the bill. Michael Rouse, Colorado Vaccine Equity Taskforce, testified in opposition to the bill.

05:15:05 PM

Dr. Christopher Urbina,
Colorado Asscociation of Local Public Health Officials, testified in opposition
to the bill. Meghan Dollar, Colorado Municipal League, testified
in opposition to the bill.

05:21:44 PM

Mara Brosy-Wiwchar,
Colorado Department of Public Health and Enviornment, was available to
answer committee members' questions. Stephanie Wasserman, Immunize Colorado,
testified in opposition to the bill. Dr. Nabeeh Hasan, Interfaith
Alliance of Colorado, testified in opposition to the bill. Elizabeth
Fashing, Colorado Immunization Advocates, testified in opposition to the
bill. Dr. Gabriel Lockhart, National Jewish Health, testified in
opposition to the bill.

05:35:39 PM

Dr. Thomas Perille,
Democrats for Life of Colorado, testified in opposition to the bill. He
distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment D). Mrs. Anna
Hanel, representing herself, testified in opposition to the bill. The
witnesses responded to questions from the committee.

05:48:45 PM

Suzie Brundage, representing herself, testified in opposition to the bill. Mrs. Angie Anderson, representing herself, testified in opposition to the bill. Dr. Lindsay Diamond, representing herself, testified in opposition to the bill.

05:59:58 PM

Alicia Heim, Colorado Immunization Advocates, testified in opposition to the bill. Ms. Claudia Perez, representing La Cocina/ Mental Health, testified in opposition to the bill. Mrs. Emily Adams, representing herself, testified in opposition to the bill. Katrina Kozak, representing herself, testified in opposition to the bill. Dr. Kathryn Penzkover, representing herself, testified in opposition to the bill.

06:19:07 PM

The committee took
a brief recess.

06:19:35 PM

Brad Bergford, Commmission
for the Protection of Constitutional Rights, testified in support of the
bill. Mr. Theo Wilson, representing himself, testified in support
of the bill. Dr. H Malcolm Newton, representing himself, testified
in support of the bill. Bishop Jerry Demmer, representing himself,
testified in support of the bill. Ms. Ana Cornelius, representing
herself, testified in support of the bill. The panel of witnesses
responded to questions from the committee.

07:04:16 PM

Dr. Ietef Vita, representing
himself, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Eutimia Montoya, representing
herself, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Jeff Hunt, The Centennial
Institute, testified in support of the bill. The panel of witnesses
responded to questions from the committee.

07:27:02 PM

Ms. Diana Lutfi,
representing herself, testified in support of the bill. She distributed
handouts to the committee (Attachment E). Ms. Gabrielle Palmer, representing
herself, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Mary Holland, Children's
Health Defense, testified in a neutral position on the bill. Ms.
Patricia Finn, Make America's Kids Healthy Again Inc., testified in support
of the bill.

07:46:47 PM

Mrs. Victoria Edwards, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Mark Braunlich, representing himself, testified in support of the bill. Mrs. Pamela Douglas, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Jenna Ikuta, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. The panel of witnesses responded to questions from the committee.

08:06:05 PM

Mrs. Elizabeth Jenks,
representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Dr. John
Kucera, representing himself, testified in support of the bill. Ms.
Beth Fisher, Medical Autonomy Colorado, testified in support of the bill
and distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment F). Dr. Kamau
Kokayi, representing himself, testified in support of the bill. The
panel of witnesses responded to questions from the committee.

08:34:03 PM

Ms. Cindy Ficklin, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Carmen Bontrager, Medical Autonomy Colorado, testified in support of the bill. Mrs. Patricia Anthone, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Mrs. Loren de la Cruz, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. The panel of witnesses responded to questions from the committee.

08:57:39 PM

Mrs. Linda Bissett,
cofightforfreedom.com, testified in support of the bill and distributed
a handout to the committee (Attachment G). Rebecca Heath, representing
herself, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Andrea Erickson, representing
herself, testified in support of the bill. Mrs. Denice Dirks, Concerned
Colorado Families, testified in support of the bill.

09:13:06 PM

Ms. Theresa Wrangham, National Vaccine Information Center, testified in support of the bill. Dr. Melanie Gisler, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Dr. Mary Harrow, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. The panel of witnesses responded to questions from the committee.

09:30:32 PM

Catherine Turner, representing herself, testified in support of the bill.

09:30:33 PM

Submitted written public testimony can be found in Attachment H.

09:36:13 PM

The bill sponsors
introduced and explained amendment L.001 (Attachment I).

09:36:37 PM	Motion	Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment I).
	Moved	Williams
	Seconded	Geitner

	Bacon
	Baisley
	Geitner
	Hanks
	Jackson
	McCormick
	Mullica
	Ortiz
	Soper
	Titone
	Williams
	Caraveo
	Lontine
		YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

09:37:19 PM

The bill sponsors provided closing comments on the bill.

09:50:19 PM

Committee members made closing comments on the bill.

09:50:20 PM

Representative Geitner
made a substitue motion to send the bill to the judiciary committee.

10:02:30 PM

The committee took
a brief recess. The committee came back to order and committee members
made comments on the substitute motion.

10:05:50 PM	Motion	Refer House Bill 21-1191, as amended, to the Committee on Judiciary.
	Moved	Geitner
	Seconded	Baisley

	Bacon	No
	Baisley	Yes
	Geitner	Yes
	Hanks	Yes
	Jackson	No
	McCormick	No
	Mullica	No
	Ortiz	No
	Soper	Yes
	Titone	No
	Williams	Yes
	Caraveo	No
	Lontine	No
		YES: 5 NO: 8 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

10:06:09 PM

Committee members continued to make closing comments on the bill.

10:32:58 PM

Committee members continued to make closing comments on the bill.

10:45:20 PM	Motion	Refer House Bill 21-1191, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations.
	Moved	Williams
	Seconded	Geitner

	Bacon	No
	Baisley	Yes
	Geitner	Yes
	Hanks	Yes
	Jackson	No
	McCormick	No
	Mullica	No
	Ortiz	No
	Soper	Yes
	Titone	No
	Williams	Yes
	Caraveo	No
	Lontine	No
		YES: 5 NO: 8 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

10:46:33 PM	Motion	Postpone House Bill 21-1191 indefinitely.
	Moved	Jackson
	Seconded	Ortiz

	Bacon	Yes
	Baisley	No
	Geitner	No
	Hanks	No
	Jackson	Yes
	McCormick	Yes
	Mullica	Yes
	Ortiz	Yes
	Soper	No
	Titone	Yes
	Williams	No
	Caraveo	Yes
	Lontine	Yes
	Final	YES: 8 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

HB21-1191 - Postponed Indefinitely

Colorado General Assembly