Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 76 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 15C the following section:-

Section 15D. No full-time or part-time undergraduate or graduate student shall, except as hereinafter provided, be registered at a private or public college or university or public or private secondary school, which provides housing or licenses housing such as fraternities and sororities, except upon presentation of a medical certificate at least 2 weeks before matriculation that the student has been immunized against meningococcal disease; but a student may be registered at the institution upon certification made, in writing, by a physician who has personally examined the student and in whose opinion the physical condition of the student is such that his health would be endangered by the immunization, or the student has signed a waiver stating that the student has received information provided by the school or the health department containing the information required by this section. A parent or guardian of a student less than 18 years of age shall sign the waiver. The department of public health shall promulgate rules and regulations for enforcement of this section and in developing the waiver forms, which shall contain information about the risks and dangers of meningococcal disease. In the absence of an emergency or epidemic of disease declared by the department of public health, no student who states in writing that immunization would conflict with his religious beliefs shall be required to present the medical certificate in order to be admitted to the institution. This section shall not require an institution to provide the vaccine or the expense for the vaccine against meningococcal disease.

SECTION 2. This act shall apply to a students' initial enrollment in an institution of higher education in or after August of 2005.