California Senate Bill 277 (SB277) is a California law which removes a number of exemptions to vaccination requirements for entry to private or public elementary or secondary schools in California, as well as child day care centers. It was passed in the California State Senate in June 2015 and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on June 30, 2015.
The bill was prompted by the 2014 Disneyland measles outbreak and historically low levels of vaccination in some California schools, with some areas showing personal belief exemptions exceeding 20%. The bill was supported by the California Medical Association. Opposition to the bill, albeit from "a tiny minority", has been characterized as "possibly the most strident outpouring of political dissent in recent memory". Opponents to the bill made comparisons to Nazi Germany and death threats were reported against Senators Richard Pan and Ben Allen, the Bill's co-authors.
On April 28, 2015 Professor of Law Dorit Rubinstein Reiss gave her testimony on SB 277 before the California Senate Judiciary Committee. In her testimony, she reminded the legislature of their leeway to require school immunization, rejected the need of non-medical exemptions, and claimed the bill did not violate the right to education.