National Informed Consent Exemption (NICE) Act
Bill: H.R.5816 | Sponsor: Rep. Gohmert, Louie (R-TX)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
National Informed Consent Exemption (NICE) Act
This bill restricts the federal government and federally funded entities from mandating that U.S. citizens receive a vaccination or a test for an infectious disease in order to participate in federal programs or activities such as travel. It also specifies that laws, regulations, or policies that discriminate on the basis of a citizen's vaccination status are unenforceable, subject to limited exceptions.
The bill establishes a national vaccination exemption that may be exercised by any individual, including on behalf of the individual's children or dependents. Further, the bill prohibits vaccinating a child without the consent of each parent or guardian. One parent or guardian may consent if the other parent or guardian received, at least three days prior, written notice of the child's vaccination appointment.
The bill's provisions do not apply (1) to lawfully incarcerated or institutionalized individuals, (2) to a specific individual subject to an individualized court order that meets due process protections, or (3) during declared emergencies if the jurisdiction's governing authority formally applies to the President for an exception to the national vaccination exemption that meets specified standards.
An aggrieved individual may enforce the bill through a private right of action. Additionally, an entity that provides false information to influence an individual's decision about receiving a vaccine shall be liable for damages resulting from the vaccination.
The Surgeon General must establish an independent commission to evaluate the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To prohibit the Federal Government, or State or local government or 
 other entity receiving Federal funding, from requiring any citizen to 
be vaccinated, including Federal agencies from requiring its employees 
  to take any vaccination, without the citizen being fully advised in 
writing of all known potential risks from the vaccine and consultation 
  with a physician followed by the voluntary informed consent of the 
                    citizen, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Informed Consent Exemption 
(NICE) Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Constitution does not permit a vaccine mandate, 
        including a mandate by the executive branch imposed on Federal 
        employees as a condition to maintain the employment they need 
        to feed themselves or their families.
            (2) It is unconscionable for any entity to use force or 
        coercion to compel individuals to take a vaccine without their 
        informed consent, and even more egregiously unconscionable for 
        a vaccine to be administered under emergency use authorization 
        (EUA) without adequate warnings of known potential risks to 
        that specific employee or patient. The rights of the American 
        people to free exercise of religion, due process of law, and 
        protection from religious discrimination, includes the 
        fundamental right to decline vaccination and testing for 
        infectious disease without penalty.
            (3) Mandating vaccines, including experimental vaccines, 
        does not fall within any of the executive authorities, 
        according to article II, section 2 of the United States 
        Constitution.
            (4) According to the American Heritage Medical Dictionary, 
        informed consent is the consent by a person to undergo a 
        medical procedure after receiving all material information 
        regarding risks, benefits, and alternatives.
            (5) Vaccines in America are licensed and regulated 
        federally.
            (6) Product inserts for vaccines approved by the United 
        States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evidence that:
                    (A) Each vaccine on the routine vaccination 
                schedules published by the U.S. Centers for Disease 
                Control and Prevention (CDC) has never been clinically 
                evaluated in humans for its long-term potential to 
                cause cancer, impair fertility, and mutate genes.
                    (B) The pivotal clinical trial relied upon by the 
                Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of each 
                vaccine on the CDC schedule did not evaluate the safety 
                of the vaccine (1) for at least one year after the 
                vaccine is administered, and (2) against a control 
                group that received (A) a truly inert placebo, or (B) 
                another vaccine approved based on a pivotal clinical 
                trial that included a control group that received a 
                truly inert placebo.
            (7) In 2018, the United States Department of Health and 
        Human Services (HHS) published that it has no evidence that its 
        Secretary completed any of the 16 required vaccine safety 
        reports, bi-annually pursuant to U.S.C. 300aa-27(c) (``Report. 
        Within 2 years after December 22, 1987, and periodically 
        thereafter . . .'').
            (8) In 2018, the FDA published, ``Until a vaccine is given 
        to the general population, all potential adverse events cannot 
        be anticipated.''.
            (9) In 2020, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 
        published, ``The `gold standard' for testing interventions in 
        people is the `randomized, placebo-controlled' clinical trial, 
        in which volunteers are randomly assigned to a test group 
        receiving the experimental intervention or a control group 
        receiving a placebo (an inactive substance that looks like the 
        drug or treatment being tested). Comparing results from the two 
        groups suggests whether changes in the test group result from 
        the treatment or occur by chance.''.
            (10) The field of medicine and science is advancing at a 
        rapid pace. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has reported that 
        it can take up to 17 years for a new best practice to reach the 
        average physician and surgeon. It is prudent to recognize 
        doctors' discretion when applying all of their knowledge, 
        training, expertise, and new developments in the care of their 
        patients.
            (11) Vaccine ingredients are commonly sourced from foreign 
        nations.
            (12) America's national security is directly impacted by 
        mandatory vaccination.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY VACCINATION AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE 
              TESTING.

    (a) The Federal Government, and persons receiving Federal funding, 
are prohibited from requiring any citizen to be vaccinated or tested 
for an infectious disease without due process of law. Citizens have the 
fundamental right to decline vaccination for an infectious disease 
without penalty.
    (b) Vaccination shall henceforth be optional to citizens, except as 
provided in section 5, for their participation in society, including 
but not limited to education, travel, employment, government service, 
housing, social welfare programs, access to courts, and medical care.
    (c) Any laws, regulations, or policies, purporting to authorize any 
form of discrimination against any citizen, whether in the form of 
denial of education, travel, employment, government service, housing, 
social welfare programs, access to courts, and medical care, which is 
based solely upon their refusal to consent to vaccination for an 
infectious disease, are repugnant to the United States Constitution and 
are therefore unenforceable, except as provided in section 5. Nor shall 
any laws, regulations, or policies, require an individual to provide 
any ``vaccine passport'' or documentation, whether digital or 
otherwise, certifying vaccination or post-infection recovery to gain 
access to, entry upon, or service from an institution within the United 
States, except as provided in section 5.
    (d) The exemption from vaccination for infectious disease provided 
by this Act shall be known as the National Informed Consent Exemption 
(``NICE'') and may be exercised by any individual, including on behalf 
of their child or dependent, without any precondition or requirement, 
except as provided in section 5.
    (e) With the exception of emancipated minors, no child shall be 
vaccinated without (1) the consent of each parent or guardian for the 
child, or (2) the consent of one parent or guardian for the child and 
prior written 3-day notification to the other parent or guardian(s) for 
the child regarding the vaccination appointment.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Any person who has been the victim of a violation of this Act 
may bring a civil action for damages against any responsible party. The 
plaintiff may seek actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive 
damages, injunctive relief, any combination of those, or any other 
appropriate relief. A prevailing plaintiff may also be awarded 
attorney's fees and court costs.
    (b) Anyone or any entity that provides false information intending 
to influence a person to be vaccinated shall be liable to the person 
vaccinated or that person's heirs for any and all damages resulting 
from such vaccination, including actual damages, compensatory damages, 
punitive damages, as well as attorney's fees and court costs.

SEC. 5. EXCEPTIONS.

    This Act shall not apply to the following:
            (1) lawfully incarcerated and institutionalized individuals 
        lacking the right or ability to meaningfully provide informed 
        consent or informed refusal;
            (2) courts of law issuing individualized court orders 
        specific to one individual, provided the court order applies 
        strict scrutiny following a hearing affording due process of 
        law to the individual affected; or
            (3) Federal, State, and local emergencies where the 
        governing authority has first formally applied to the President 
        of the United States of America for a NICE exception, and 
        provided that the President in his discretion formally 
        authorizes the requested exception based on the following 
        criteria proven by the governing authority: (i) compliance with 
        the procedure in section 5(b) would be materially impractical, 
        (ii) the requested NICE exception would not materially 
        interfere with National Security, and (iii) short-term and 
        long-term side effects from the vaccination, including serious 
        injuries and deaths, have been proven to occur in less than 1 
        in 200,000 individuals.

SEC. 6. EVALUATION OF VACCINATED COMPARED TO UNVACCINATED AMERICANS.

    (a) The United States Surgeon General shall immediately commence an 
independent evaluation of the CDC vaccination schedule, and also an 
independent evaluation of COVID-19 vaccination.
    (b) The independent evaluations shall be performed by a Vaccine 
Safety Commission comprised of 30 physicians and scientists, appointed 
by the United States Surgeon General. Commission members shall not have 
any current or previous ownership interest, or any current or previous 
consulting or employment relationship, with any manufacturer of a 
vaccine.
    (c) All evaluation details, communications, results, and analyses 
of the Commission shall be made publicly available.
    (d) The risk of permanent disability and death from the vaccine, 
alone and in combination with other vaccines, shall be measured 
objectively by review of biological studies and epidemiological surveys 
of completely unvaccinated persons who have received no vaccines in 
life, compared to persons who have received various vaccines under 
evaluation. The risk of permanent disability and death caused by an 
infectious disease shall be measured objectively by national vital 
statistics for the 10 years before the first vaccine for that disease 
was first introduced for public use.
    (e) Independent evaluations shall be made of potential therapeutic 
medications for diseases for which vaccines have been produced, 
including consideration of studies done on such medications.
    (f) At the completion of the evaluation on July 1, 2026, the 
Committee shall produce a report that shall be provided to each Member 
of Congress.
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