LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — The story of a Michigan mom who went to jail for five days because she refused a judge’s order to vaccinate her child stirred up debate over government-imposed vaccinations.

Who decides what vaccinations a child will get and when? A West Michigan lawmaker has introduced a bill that could leave that decision with the legislature.

“Vaccines is a very hot button issue. It’s very personal with people,” state Rep. Steven Johnson, a freshman Republican from Wayland, said.

The idea of government-mandated vaccinations stirs up deep emotions for both those who swear by the effectiveness of herd immunity and those who think they should decide for their children for a variety of reasons.

What Johnson is proposing wouldn’t necessarily change the current process.

“Our bill, it doesn’t get rid of any of those. It doesn’t, it really doesn’t touch any of the existing structure,” he said. “But what it says is going forward unelected bureaucrats at (the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services), they can no longer make these laws.”

Johnson argues that since the decisions made by DHHS have the impact a law, those decisions should be made by elected officials directly accountable to voters.

But what about lawmakers without medical backgrounds making such decisions?

Johnson says that argument could be made about any number of issues that the legislature deals with. He said lawmakers can seek out expert advice.

“I don’t think a lot of these bureaucrats are experts, either,” Johnson said. “I mean, we’ve seen the mistakes that they’ve made and I think they’ve made some pretty giant mistakes. Look at Flint. Look at what happened with DEQ. The problem is they’re not accountable to the people, so let’s put it back to the legislature. We’re accountable to the people.”

The bill, House Bill 5162, has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight pending a hearing.