Scope: State (West Virginia)
Branch: Executive
Severity: Amber
Date occurred: January 14, 2025
West Virginia Executive Order 7-25, signed January 14, 2025, directs that religious exemptions be allowed from the state's school immunization requirements, citing the state's Equal Protection for Religion Act. State law enacted by the Legislature requires specified vaccinations for school attendance and enumerates only medical exemptions.
Constitutional basis: Executive order directing nonenforcement of a legislative vaccination statute via the state's religious-freedom act, a novel assertion of unilateral authority over enacted law.