Arizona, Nevada, Rhode Island Take Actions On HPV Vaccine, Stillborn Birth Certificate-Related Legislation

The following highlights recent state actions on legislation related to human papillomavirus vaccines and birth certificates for stillborn infants.

Arizona: The Senate last week approved a budget bill that includes language that would prohibit the state from requiring HPV vaccines for middle-school age girls, the Arizona Republic reports. According to the Republic, supporters of the language have said that they do not trust state health officials to make the right decision about whether to mandate HPV vaccination and that the vaccine could cause girls to become promiscuous. State health officials have said that the language is unnecessary and that they are not considering mandating the vaccine. Health officials added that they would like the option to consider mandating the vaccine in the future and that the Senate is setting a potentially harmful precedent in approving such language. Sen. Amanda Aguirre (D) unsuccessfully attempted to remove the language from the bill. According to the Republic, the Senate and House still must agree on the budget proposal before it moves to Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), who has said she will sign the Senate measure. According to Jody Hatz of the National Conference of State Legislatures, no other state has attempted to prohibit mandating the vaccine (Crawford, Arizona Republic, 5/17).

Nevada: The Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee last week approved a bill (SB 409) that would require most insurance companies in the state to cover HPV vaccines for girls and women ages nine to 26, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The measure was approved after Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley (D) made a motion to combine it with a separate bill (SB 113) that mandates coverage for prostate screenings, according to the Review-Journal. The combined legislation restores a provision, which had been removed in the Senate after objections from local governments, that would require self-funded health plans to cover the vaccine. According to the Review-Journal, the prostate-screening bill already included a mandate that self-funded plans cover screening, and some lawmakers questioned why such plans would not also be required to cover HPV vaccination. The bill now moves to the full Assembly. Funding for HPV vaccines has been included in budgets for the state's Medicaid and SCHIP programs, the Review-Journal reports (Whaley, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 5/17).














Rhode Island: The Senate last week unanimously approved a bill (SB 174) that would allow the parents of stillborn infants at 20 weeks' gestation or more to request birth certificates, the Providence Journal reports. The House earlier this month approved the measure. According to the Journal, there were 85 stillborn infants in the state in 2005. The measure, which was sponsored by Sen. Walter Felag (D), was supported by the MISS Foundation, an organization that has worked with legislators and families in more than 12 states to pass similar legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The foundation worked with a Rhode Island family whose infant was stillborn to gain lawmakers' support. The measure now goes to Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) for consideration, the Journal reports (Gudrais/Peoples, Providence Journal, 5/16).

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