AG Miyares says Virginia colleges and universities can’t require a Covid vaccine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, look. Right there on Page 2 of his opinion:

With regard to immunizations, the General Assembly has made clear the immunizations that are required for a student to enroll in an institution of higher education. Under § 23.1-800 of the Code of Virginia, “each student shall be immunized by vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles (rubeola), German measles (rubella), and mumps” prior to enrollment “for the first time in any baccalaureate public institution of higher education.”4 Students may not register for a second semester or quarter until they have furnished “documented evidence, provided by a licensed health professional or health facility, of the diseases for which [they] ha[ve] been immunized.”5

Now you twits can stop repeating the lie that "no vaccinations are required."

So others than those. Got it.

You sound like a sulky child who refuses to admit they were wrong.

No the schools can not require vaccines. Miyares has issued his edict.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not good for recruiting top faculty to VA universities. The superstars always have multiple choices and they will go elsewhere where they don't have to deal with red state politics creating a less safe work environment and class disruptions due to students constantly quarantining. There will also be existing faculty who go on the market to get away from the BS if it gets bad enough.

Republicans don't care. They think universities are just breeding grounds for radical communism, they think universities are all about "gender studies" and "underwater basket weaving" et cetera and apparently are content to think we don't need any scientists, engineers, or any domain experts or thought leaders. We just need 4x4 drivin' truck drivers, plumbers and mechanics like "real America."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, look. Right there on Page 2 of his opinion:

With regard to immunizations, the General Assembly has made clear the immunizations that are required for a student to enroll in an institution of higher education. Under § 23.1-800 of the Code of Virginia, “each student shall be immunized by vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles (rubeola), German measles (rubella), and mumps” prior to enrollment “for the first time in any baccalaureate public institution of higher education.”4 Students may not register for a second semester or quarter until they have furnished “documented evidence, provided by a licensed health professional or health facility, of the diseases for which [they] ha[ve] been immunized.”5

Now you twits can stop repeating the lie that "no vaccinations are required."

So others than those. Got it.

You sound like a sulky child who refuses to admit they were wrong.

No the schools can not require vaccines. Miyares has issued his edict.

They can't require *COVID* vaccines, unless/until the General Assembly votes to include it. They CAN - and do - require all of the other listed vaccines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, look. Right there on Page 2 of his opinion:

With regard to immunizations, the General Assembly has made clear the immunizations that are required for a student to enroll in an institution of higher education. Under § 23.1-800 of the Code of Virginia, “each student shall be immunized by vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles (rubeola), German measles (rubella), and mumps” prior to enrollment “for the first time in any baccalaureate public institution of higher education.”4 Students may not register for a second semester or quarter until they have furnished “documented evidence, provided by a licensed health professional or health facility, of the diseases for which [they] ha[ve] been immunized.”5

Now you twits can stop repeating the lie that "no vaccinations are required."

So others than those. Got it.

The flu vaccine is curiously absent from this list. We are always hearing about flu outbreaks, yet the Assembly has decided not to use the most effective tool we have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, look. Right there on Page 2 of his opinion:

With regard to immunizations, the General Assembly has made clear the immunizations that are required for a student to enroll in an institution of higher education. Under § 23.1-800 of the Code of Virginia, “each student shall be immunized by vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles (rubeola), German measles (rubella), and mumps” prior to enrollment “for the first time in any baccalaureate public institution of higher education.”4 Students may not register for a second semester or quarter until they have furnished “documented evidence, provided by a licensed health professional or health facility, of the diseases for which [they] ha[ve] been immunized.”5

Now you twits can stop repeating the lie that "no vaccinations are required."

So others than those. Got it.

You sound like a sulky child who refuses to admit they were wrong.

No the schools can not require vaccines. Miyares has issued his edict.

They can't require *COVID* vaccines, unless/until the General Assembly votes to include it. They CAN - and do - require all of the other listed vaccines.

Miyares’ opinion is not law - you know that, right? College and universities are free to ignore his opinion and continue requiring the vaccine unless/until the issue is clarified by a court or the General Assembly.

[Anonymous]

Well, it appears that Virginia colleges are following this man’s order with typos: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/31/virginia-colleges-covid-vaccine-miyares/

[Anonymous]

Received the Va Tech email about this yesterday. Just pathetic. I would hope the universities fight this insane edict.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading both opinions, it is not clear to me what the correct answer is, but there is a glaring omission in Miyares' opinion that suggests to me Herring's may be better-reasoned.

Herring's April 2021 opinion on the issue essentially is that the Virginia code provides a broad grant of discretion to boards of visitors to set policies and regulations to maintain campus health and safety and there is noting in the Virginia code that prohibits boards of visitors from imposing a covid vaccine requirement during a public health emergency. Other bodies, such as the General Assembly and the Commissioner of Health, can also create health-related requirements, but this does not inherently strip authority from the boards of visitors from also acting to impose health and safety-related rules. Therefore, the boards of visitors are not prohibited from conditioning in-person attendance on receipt of an approved covid-19 vaccine.

Miyares' reasoning is that, notwithstanding the broad general grant of authority by the General Assembly to boards of visitors, the General Assembly has created some statutory requirements in the area of vaccine requirements and that implicitly means the boards of visitors do not have authority to regulate in this area. The Virginia code provision he cites does itself say anything about vaccine requirements imposed by the General Assembly being the exclusive list of vaccines that may be required for in-person attendance, however, and Miyares does not cite to any code provision or case law stating that, where the General Assembly has chosen to act in an area, the boards of visitors are prohibited from also acting in that area to supplement the General Assembly's enactments. It may be that such code or case law does exist, but it is a pretty notable omission not to include it if it does.

Dillons Rule? - Where the General Assembly makes a statewide law, like they did for the required immunizations list for public baccalaureate colleges, local governments cannot make their own different law.

Dillon's rule applies to local counties/cities, not boards of public colleges and universities. The General Assembly has given a broad grant of authority to those boards under section 23.1-1301, including authority for boards of visitors to "[m]ake regulations and policies concerning the institution[,]" and authority for governing boards to "[a]dopt regulations or institution policies for the conduct of students in attendance and for the rescission or restriction of financial aid, suspension, and dismissal of students who fail or refuse to abide by such regulations or policies[.]" If the General Assembly had issued the equivalent of 21.1-1301(A)(1) (the first one listed above) for counties/cities, that would probably gut Dillon's rule.

Clearly, authority over making the list of required vaccines was NOT delegated to the college boards - because a General Assembly law spells out the exact Immunization requirements - 23.1-800. And, it states that the Board of Visitors may seek assistance from VDOE to implement that exact law. It does not state that a Board of Visitors is free to impose more stringent requirements. Some laws do state so, but not this one. Clearly, the State legislature chose to act on this topic, which foreclosed a lower governmental body from conflicting with the state action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading both opinions, it is not clear to me what the correct answer is, but there is a glaring omission in Miyares' opinion that suggests to me Herring's may be better-reasoned.

Herring's April 2021 opinion on the issue essentially is that the Virginia code provides a broad grant of discretion to boards of visitors to set policies and regulations to maintain campus health and safety and there is noting in the Virginia code that prohibits boards of visitors from imposing a covid vaccine requirement during a public health emergency. Other bodies, such as the General Assembly and the Commissioner of Health, can also create health-related requirements, but this does not inherently strip authority from the boards of visitors from also acting to impose health and safety-related rules. Therefore, the boards of visitors are not prohibited from conditioning in-person attendance on receipt of an approved covid-19 vaccine.

Miyares' reasoning is that, notwithstanding the broad general grant of authority by the General Assembly to boards of visitors, the General Assembly has created some statutory requirements in the area of vaccine requirements and that implicitly means the boards of visitors do not have authority to regulate in this area. The Virginia code provision he cites does itself say anything about vaccine requirements imposed by the General Assembly being the exclusive list of vaccines that may be required for in-person attendance, however, and Miyares does not cite to any code provision or case law stating that, where the General Assembly has chosen to act in an area, the boards of visitors are prohibited from also acting in that area to supplement the General Assembly's enactments. It may be that such code or case law does exist, but it is a pretty notable omission not to include it if it does.

Dillons Rule? - Where the General Assembly makes a statewide law, like they did for the required immunizations list for public baccalaureate colleges, local governments cannot make their own different law.

Dillon's rule applies to local counties/cities, not boards of public colleges and universities. The General Assembly has given a broad grant of authority to those boards under section 23.1-1301, including authority for boards of visitors to "[m]ake regulations and policies concerning the institution[,]" and authority for governing boards to "[a]dopt regulations or institution policies for the conduct of students in attendance and for the rescission or restriction of financial aid, suspension, and dismissal of students who fail or refuse to abide by such regulations or policies[.]" If the General Assembly had issued the equivalent of 21.1-1301(A)(1) (the first one listed above) for counties/cities, that would probably gut Dillon's rule.

Clearly, authority over making the list of required vaccines was NOT delegated to the college boards - because a General Assembly law spells out the exact Immunization requirements - 23.1-800. And, it states that the Board of Visitors may seek assistance from VDOE to implement that exact law. It does not state that a Board of Visitors is free to impose more stringent requirements. Some laws do state so, but not this one. Clearly, the State legislature chose to act on this topic, which foreclosed a lower governmental body from conflicting with the state action.

The Boards were following recommendations from VDH and VDOE, weren't they? In 2020, we were all following (or trying to follow) CDC guidelines - the universities weren't just making things up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading both opinions, it is not clear to me what the correct answer is, but there is a glaring omission in Miyares' opinion that suggests to me Herring's may be better-reasoned.

Herring's April 2021 opinion on the issue essentially is that the Virginia code provides a broad grant of discretion to boards of visitors to set policies and regulations to maintain campus health and safety and there is noting in the Virginia code that prohibits boards of visitors from imposing a covid vaccine requirement during a public health emergency. Other bodies, such as the General Assembly and the Commissioner of Health, can also create health-related requirements, but this does not inherently strip authority from the boards of visitors from also acting to impose health and safety-related rules. Therefore, the boards of visitors are not prohibited from conditioning in-person attendance on receipt of an approved covid-19 vaccine.

Miyares' reasoning is that, notwithstanding the broad general grant of authority by the General Assembly to boards of visitors, the General Assembly has created some statutory requirements in the area of vaccine requirements and that implicitly means the boards of visitors do not have authority to regulate in this area. The Virginia code provision he cites does itself say anything about vaccine requirements imposed by the General Assembly being the exclusive list of vaccines that may be required for in-person attendance, however, and Miyares does not cite to any code provision or case law stating that, where the General Assembly has chosen to act in an area, the boards of visitors are prohibited from also acting in that area to supplement the General Assembly's enactments. It may be that such code or case law does exist, but it is a pretty notable omission not to include it if it does.

Dillons Rule? - Where the General Assembly makes a statewide law, like they did for the required immunizations list for public baccalaureate colleges, local governments cannot make their own different law.

Dillon's rule applies to local counties/cities, not boards of public colleges and universities. The General Assembly has given a broad grant of authority to those boards under section 23.1-1301, including authority for boards of visitors to "[m]ake regulations and policies concerning the institution[,]" and authority for governing boards to "[a]dopt regulations or institution policies for the conduct of students in attendance and for the rescission or restriction of financial aid, suspension, and dismissal of students who fail or refuse to abide by such regulations or policies[.]" If the General Assembly had issued the equivalent of 21.1-1301(A)(1) (the first one listed above) for counties/cities, that would probably gut Dillon's rule.

Clearly, authority over making the list of required vaccines was NOT delegated to the college boards - because a General Assembly law spells out the exact Immunization requirements - 23.1-800. And, it states that the Board of Visitors may seek assistance from VDOE to implement that exact law. It does not state that a Board of Visitors is free to impose more stringent requirements. Some laws do state so, but not this one. Clearly, the State legislature chose to act on this topic, which foreclosed a lower governmental body from conflicting with the state action.

The Boards were following recommendations from VDH and VDOE, weren't they? In 2020, we were all following (or trying to follow) CDC guidelines - the universities weren't just making things up.

^^^ And also the executive orders from the governor during an emergency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Received the Va Tech email about this yesterday. Just pathetic. I would hope the universities fight this insane edict.

Relax, 95% of the student body and 94% of the staff are vaxed.

[Anonymous]

Well, the legislature better act on this or next year’s class could bring a larger unvaccinated group in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading both opinions, it is not clear to me what the correct answer is, but there is a glaring omission in Miyares' opinion that suggests to me Herring's may be better-reasoned.

Herring's April 2021 opinion on the issue essentially is that the Virginia code provides a broad grant of discretion to boards of visitors to set policies and regulations to maintain campus health and safety and there is noting in the Virginia code that prohibits boards of visitors from imposing a covid vaccine requirement during a public health emergency. Other bodies, such as the General Assembly and the Commissioner of Health, can also create health-related requirements, but this does not inherently strip authority from the boards of visitors from also acting to impose health and safety-related rules. Therefore, the boards of visitors are not prohibited from conditioning in-person attendance on receipt of an approved covid-19 vaccine.

Miyares' reasoning is that, notwithstanding the broad general grant of authority by the General Assembly to boards of visitors, the General Assembly has created some statutory requirements in the area of vaccine requirements and that implicitly means the boards of visitors do not have authority to regulate in this area. The Virginia code provision he cites does itself say anything about vaccine requirements imposed by the General Assembly being the exclusive list of vaccines that may be required for in-person attendance, however, and Miyares does not cite to any code provision or case law stating that, where the General Assembly has chosen to act in an area, the boards of visitors are prohibited from also acting in that area to supplement the General Assembly's enactments. It may be that such code or case law does exist, but it is a pretty notable omission not to include it if it does.

Dillons Rule? - Where the General Assembly makes a statewide law, like they did for the required immunizations list for public baccalaureate colleges, local governments cannot make their own different law.

Dillon's rule applies to local counties/cities, not boards of public colleges and universities. The General Assembly has given a broad grant of authority to those boards under section 23.1-1301, including authority for boards of visitors to "[m]ake regulations and policies concerning the institution[,]" and authority for governing boards to "[a]dopt regulations or institution policies for the conduct of students in attendance and for the rescission or restriction of financial aid, suspension, and dismissal of students who fail or refuse to abide by such regulations or policies[.]" If the General Assembly had issued the equivalent of 21.1-1301(A)(1) (the first one listed above) for counties/cities, that would probably gut Dillon's rule.

Clearly, authority over making the list of required vaccines was NOT delegated to the college boards - because a General Assembly law spells out the exact Immunization requirements - 23.1-800. And, it states that the Board of Visitors may seek assistance from VDOE to implement that exact law. It does not state that a Board of Visitors is free to impose more stringent requirements. Some laws do state so, but not this one. Clearly, the State legislature chose to act on this topic, which foreclosed a lower governmental body from conflicting with the state action.

Can you point to specific authority stating that the boards of visitors/governing boards cannot create regulations/policies to supplement those created by the General Assembly. Obviously those entities could not override legislation enacted by the General Assembly by refusing to require the vaccines listed in the statue. But what is the actual authority for the proposition that they cannot supplement or extend it further? After all, the statute itself does not state this it is the exhaustive list of vaccines that may be required and that colleges/universities cannot require anything beyond that list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, look. Right there on Page 2 of his opinion:

With regard to immunizations, the General Assembly has made clear the immunizations that are required for a student to enroll in an institution of higher education. Under § 23.1-800 of the Code of Virginia, “each student shall be immunized by vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles (rubeola), German measles (rubella), and mumps” prior to enrollment “for the first time in any baccalaureate public institution of higher education.”4 Students may not register for a second semester or quarter until they have furnished “documented evidence, provided by a licensed health professional or health facility, of the diseases for which [they] ha[ve] been immunized.”5

Now you twits can stop repeating the lie that "no vaccinations are required."

So others than those. Got it.

You sound like a sulky child who refuses to admit they were wrong.

No the schools can not require vaccines. Miyares has issued his edict.

They can't require *COVID* vaccines, unless/until the General Assembly votes to include it. They CAN - and do - require all of the other listed vaccines.

No his view is they can only require what the GA put in the law. Nothing else, COVID, etc...

[Anonymous]

Got an email this morning that JMU will no longer require it.