It’s common for legislators to introduce bills that they know won’t pass but that have a symbolic value, like renaming a bridge or freeway to honor a constituent. Every so often, however, they propose something intended to become law that is so wholly idiotic and antisocial that it is the very personification of politicians’ irresponsibility. Two examples come to mind, one at the end of the 19th century, the other in February.
In 1897, the lower house of Indiana’s legislature, the General Assembly, voted to declare 3.2 the legal value of pi, a constant that defines what a circle is — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is the same for every circle: 3.141592 followed by a string of trillions more digits.
Edward J. Goodwin, an amateur mathematician, persuaded Indiana state Rep. Taylor I. Record to introduce a bill in the state’s General Assembly of 1897 to make Goodwin’s pi value a matter of state law. It passed unanimously.
Before the bill could receive the imprimatur of Indiana’s Senate, however, by chance, it came to the attention of Purdue University math professor Clarence A. Waldo, who happened to be in the capital to request funding for the Indiana Academy of Sciences. He gave the senators a brief geometry lesson about the basis of pi, and the senators decided to postpone the vote indefinitely, which killed the bill and saved Indiana from the inconvenience of never again being able to legally build a sound bridge, building or highway.
The second example is legislation introduced last month that would make it a criminal misdemeanor to administer a COVID-19 or other mRNA vaccine in Idaho. State Sen. Tammy Nichols and state Rep. Judy Boyle, both Republicans, have co-sponsored House Bill 154 for Idaho, which states simply: “A person may not provide or administer a vaccine developed using messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology for use in an individual or any other mammal in this state. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Thus, the prohibition would apply not only to COVID vaccines for humans but also, for example, to mRNA vaccines to prevent rabies or parvovirus in dogs. Several ironies in this proposed legislation argue strongly against its passage.
First, it comes at a time when we need to continue to try to control the pandemic, which has abated somewhat but certainly has not ended. Vaccines are essential to that effort, and the most widely used ones are produced with mRNA technology.
Second, Idaho has fared poorly in controlling the pandemic, with more than half a million reported COVID cases (which is surely a significant underestimate) and more than 5,400 deaths, and in vaccinating its population. It has the sixth-lowest COVID vaccination rates among the U.S. states and territories, with only 56 percent of the population “fully vaccinated,” defined as having had the first two doses of the mRNA vaccines, and booster rates are far lower.
Third, data presented at the February meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices showed conclusively that the benefits of the mRNA COVID vaccines, billions of doses of which have been administered worldwide, far outweigh the risks. In addition to the documentation from the CDC and FDA, the New England Journal of Medicine has a Covid-19 Vaccine Resource Center that offers a variety of articles documenting the safety and importance of vaccination.
Finally, HB 154 did not single out COVID vaccines specifically but would also apply to future human and veterinary mRNA vaccines — all of which would have had to go through the onerous government evaluation and approval process before reaching a single person or mammal in Idaho.
In summary, HB 154 deserves the same fate as Indiana’s 19th-century pi bill — banishment to the Terrible Legislation Hall of Fame. And at the next election, Idahoans should think carefully about the suitability of Nichols and Boyle to hold public office.
