BOISE, Idaho — Governor Brad Little vetoed Senate Bill 1023 over the weekend, saying the legislation — centered around medical freedoms — goes too far.
Senate Bill 1023, called the "Idaho Medical Freedom Act," aimed to prohibit medical mandates, such as requiring vaccines.
In a statement, Governor Little said Idaho parents shouldn't have to worry about their kids getting seriously ill at school.
"Parents deserve to send their children to school or day care knowing they will be safe from contagious illnesses that disrupt families’ lives"
He added that medical freedom is a core Idaho value, touting his own record, including laws banning mask and vaccine mandates and preventing medical professionals from being forced to provide care that violates their conscience.
"Idaho already boasts the most medical freedom of any state in the union, and this bill works against parental choice."
"Well, I was delighted that the governor finally found his veto pen," says Representative Ilana Rubel (D).
Rubel says that the bill doesn't accomplish what the name implies.
"They were very clever to call it the Medical Freedom Act because who wouldn't love something called medical freedom? But when you look at what it actually does, I think it's kind of the opposite of freedom. It is government getting into the affairs of private businesses and telling them how they have to run their business," Rubel said.
Rubel told me there was bipartisan opposition to the bill, which could also cause confusion for schools.
"This was strongly opposed by the schools because this says, for example, that schools can't send a kid home if they have lice or if they have a major contagious disease for which they refuse treatment," said Rubel.
But Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador is now urging lawmakers to overturn the governor's veto, saying in a statement:
"The Medical Freedom Act is the defining bill of this session—one that would protect Idahoans from government-imposed vaccine and mask mandates."
To overturn the veto, lawmakers would need a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and House chambers.
If every lawmaker maintains their original stance on the bill, there won’t be enough support to override the governor’s veto.
