Assemblyman Jamel Holley is whipping votes against an amended version of a bill eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations due for a vote in the legislature’s lower chamber on Monday.
The Assembly passed the original version of the bill 45-25 with six abstentions last month. The new version creates a carveout for private schools and daycares, though it requires those institutions report the number of enrolled children who inoculated.
“With these new amendments, I can guarantee that a majority, if not all of the African American Members of the Assembly will not be voting in support of this bill that discriminates based on wealth, address and ability to afford private education,” Holley said. “I’m working the phones, and we have gained traction to defeat the bill.”
Holley voted against the original bill, though 10 of the chamber’s black lawmakers voted in its favor. Two of those legislators, Assemblyman Herb Conaway and Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker, are sponsoring the bill.
Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake abstained, and Assemblymen Benjie Wimberly and Gordon Johnson did not vote on the measure.
The new version is a result of negotiations with Republican State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, whose vote is needed to pass the bill in the legislature’s upper chamber, where defections from five Democratic senators stalled the bill last month.
Even with O’Scanlon, the measure’s fate is far from guaranteed in the Senate, as the watering down the bill could push more Democrats to vote no.
The amendments could have a similar effect in the Assembly.
“Senator O’Scanlon’s vaccine amendments cuts into the fiber of all we have accomplished,” Holley said. “To suggest that we begin to segregate our students is an abomination of what every righteous leader should be standing up against.”
View Comments (41)
A3818 and S2173 clearly violate both N.J. and U.S. Constitutions...
NJ CONSTITUTION Article 1, paragraph 5 states:
“NO PERSON SHALL BE DENIED THE ENJOYMENT OF any civil or military right, nor be discriminated against in the exercise of any civil or military right, NOR BE SEGREGATED in the militia or IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BECAUSE OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES, race, color, ancestry or national origin."
UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION 1st Amendment, Bill of Rights states:
"CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW respecting an establishment of religion, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF..."
Religion can never be legislated—It is an unalienable right.
NJ Legislature—Do what you were sworn to do and honor and defend the Constitution.
Vote No on A3818 / S2173.
Making vaccination mandatory (except for valid medical exemptions) does NOT discriminate against anyone based upon their religion. Those who have a religious objection to vaccination are free to homeschool their children.
Freedom of religion does not mean freedom to trample on other people's rights, such as their right to LIFE, which you are putting at risk if you send your unvaccinated child to school, posing a danger to children or employees with lowered immune systems.
Freedom of religion means that the government will not prevent you from following your religion, unless and until the exercise of your religion violates someone else's rights. It does not mean that the government places your rights ABOVE those of other citizens. And if the exercise of your religion creates an extra cost or inconvenience for you, that is your issue to deal with. Jews who keep kosher have to spend more money on food than most people, and have to send their kids to school with lunches in most places, because there are not kosher options at the school. The same is true for Muslims who observe the laws of halal foods. CHOOSING to follow a religion sometimes creates burdens on the religious person - that is their choice to make.
You need to educate yourself on vaccines history, their ingredients, their safety, and their effectiveness. You would be amazed quite honestly on what you discover if you dare rome outside of the junk science performed by the manufacturers and propagated by the CDC. Here's a link to get you started: https://www.icandecide.org/.
I also suggest reading "Dissolving Illusions". Here's a link for purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Dissolving-Illusions-Disease-Vaccines-Forgotten/dp/1480216895
Your welcome. Peace
Agreed. You should also educate yourself on the shape of the earth. You'd would be amazed quite honestly on what you discover if you dare rome (sic) outside of the junk science performed by the so-called 'physicists' and 'scientists' and propagated by the public schools in our kids' textbooks. Here's a link to get you started:
https://www.tfes.org/ (the flat earth society).
People against vaccines and flat earthers are very similar and should band together!
Their theories are equally valid!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Vaccine_Injury_Compensation_Program
Thank you for writing this article, recognizing the socioeconomic segregation this UnConstitutional bill is putting forward, in addition to its promotion of religious persecution. Thank you, Assemblyman!
Thank you for speaking common sense. This is discrimination of another kind and is as wrong as segregation of black and white. We cannot go back in history and allow this to happen.
Thank you Assemblyman Holley for speaking against this discriminatory bill with your colleagues! What an eye-opening experience this has been on how bills can just be pushed through without heros like you to speak reason and educate lawmakers on the real-life impacts. The bill is discriminatory and puts so many disabled children at risk.
The law is discrimination in its original form to segregate people due to vaccination status. Vaccines are liability free products with no safety profile so mandates should never be in place. Everyone should have the free will to opt out of any medical procedure for any reason. Adding these amendments doubles down on discrimination by only allowing the rich to refuse this medical product.
You are a stand up brother and one of the last TRUE politicians out there. Our politicians, especially in the democratic party, are turning into private interest puppets who no longer work for the people they swore to serve. I am a registered independent but you got my vote for whatever! You are a true democrat. The Democrats used to be the party fighting for the "little guys." Not anymore! They are putting Party over the people and selling us out for quid-pro-quo and kickbacks. Enough is enough! I urge all Democrats, specifically my people of color brethren on the Assembly to not give the modern day Bull Connor AKA Steve Sweeney what he wants---a classist, segregated, NJ where rich people get the privilege of not injecting their children with aborted FETAL cells, Aluminium, Formaldehyde, and other toxic chemicals via Private School. As a black woman, I understand that my black sons will face disproportionate risk for autism should they be injected with all of this poison. They are healthy and THRIVING. My four year old black son reads at a 2nd grade level and is so eager to start school in September. This bill perpetuates the opportunity gap, educational gap, and prevents fair access to an equal and fair public education which our ANCESTORS fought HARD for not too long ago. Must our black Assemblyman and woman undo those efforts in favor of a senate leader (Steve "Bull Connor" Sweeney) who does not understand our plight? The devil is in the details. This is another racist bill cloaked in "public safety" just like Bill Clinton's Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 which locked up plenty of brown people in favor of "public safety." Just like Reagan's War on Drugs. When will the gov be for the people? Thank you Mr. Holley. Your ancestors are proud of you and I am too!
Jennifer, this is incredibly well-written and articulate. Thank you for your opinion. I wish this was on Twitter so we could "tweet" your response!
Jamel Holley is right. A democacry is based on equality. This bill is as inequal as it gets. It signals in an American Apartheid system. It's a disgrace.
Thank you for your bravery and for your wisdom Assemblyman Holley.
While most Democrats are trying to take away or Freedoms and Liberties, and force medical procedures on the population acting like Pharma Whores and Pharma Henchman, there is finally a Democrat who understands what is really happening here: discrimination, violation of constitutional rights and civil liberties and is fighting FOR the people!
Thank you Assemblyman Holley. The amendment to this bill is more disriminatory than the first. What kind of message does this send to NJ? You can only exercise your constitutional right to religious freedom of you are weathly enough to afford private school? Clearly this bill had nothing to do with public health in the first place. Thank you for speaking the truth.
Thank you, Assemblyman Holley, for being a voice of reason and standing up for our Constitutional rights!