Arizona Govenor Given Wide Powers to Fight Bioterror

PHOENIX - With no significant dissent, state lawmakers voted Thursday to give the governor broad new powers to order medical examinations and even isolate and quarantine people without court approval.

The legislation is in direct response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It is designed to provide a comprehensive plan of what happens in the case of a biological terrorist attack, beefing up existing laws that give the governor powers in emergencies.

House Majority Whip Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, one of only 10 lawmakers to vote against HB 2044, said the governor already has broad emergency powers.

"If she needs more, no one from the governor's office came down and told me," he said.

Thursday's 45-10 House vote and 29-0 Senate passage send the measure to Gov. Jane Hull.

It entitles the governor to issue an "enhanced surveillance advisory" if there is reasonable cause to believe an illness, epidemic disease, biological toxin or a highly infectious and fatal agent has occurred or may occur.

That declaration triggers various laws on patient tracking and information sharing as well as new requirements on doctors, veterinarians and pharmacists to report any unusual patterns. It also permits state and local health officials to access any person's confidential medical records.

Additional things can happen if the governor declares a state of war or emergency and there is an occurrence or imminent threat of some disease, toxin, illness or bioterrorism. The governor could mandate medical examinations for people who have been exposed and ration medicines and vaccines.

If the threat is of smallpox, plague, viral hemorrhagic fevers or any other highly contagious and fatal disease, the governor also could mandate treatment and vaccination of anyone who has the illness, is reasonably believed to have been exposed or "may reasonably expect to be exposed."

It also allows a person to be quarantined, whether in his or her own home or elsewhere using the "least restrictive means necessary to protect the public health." Health officials would not have to seek a court order until at least 10 days after an isolation or quarantine order.

This site is from New York with some Nationwide links to your State(goodlight.net)

National Vaccination Issues and Information
An online petition presented by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons at http://www.aapsonline.org/alerts/petition.php voices opposition to the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (upon which the states are basing their new bills) and calls on President Bush to desist immediately from all efforts, plans and actions to promote and pass this bill.
Federal Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (requires free PDF Reader to view) See webpage excerpt here.
States which may grant a "personal beliefs" exemption: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin. Click here for details
Most states offer a religious exemption. In a Federal court the Wexler Decision held that limiting religious exemption solely to "bona fide members of a recognized religious organization" was unconstitutional, but some states laws still hold to this narrow and restrictive view.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 examined by the National Vaccine Information Center and Global Vaccine Awareness League
1999 Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Human Resources and Drug Policy Hearing on "Compensating Vaccine Injuries: Are Reforms Needed?"
http://www.nolo.com/ChunkLR/LR.index.html How to Find Your State Statutes Online
http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/U_S__Government/State_Government/ Links to state government websites
http://www.washlaw.edu/ Very comprehensive access to law-related resources on the Internet which includes Full Text Search to State Laws
U.S. Congress on the Internet Bill Summaries & Status; Committee Reports; more
How to Communicate Your Demands and who (Federal and State) to contact.

Reach Out to Lawmakers
For those without a fax application on their computer - CallCenter V3.5.8, is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software application integrated with fax and data communications... free of charge! Download from http://www.v3inc.com/

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NY moves to enact State Emergency Health Powers Act, calling for vaccination in "emergencies." See NYVIC report on March 14th Assembly hearing on this issue.
A Hard Look at Hepatitis B Vaccination A special section on this controversial vaccine -- with congressional testimony
by MD's and a statistician who question present vaccination policy.

http://www.sweetliberty.org/activism/msehpa/

States That Have Introduced
a Form of the MSEHPA or Other
'Terror' Legislation

As we begin to receive information from our contacts in each state, we will hyperlink from here to a sub-section, sporting information about that particular state. In the meantime, we encourage you to bookmark this page and keep checking back for new information. Also, please do your own research by locating your own state's website here, and search for the legislation. Make us aware of your findings and they will be posted as soon as possible.

We will warn you not to breathe easy because your state isn't listed here, yet. There are some that have already passed similar legislation that are not listed, and many more that haven't been called to our attention. It is imperative that you check your state legislature now!

**MOST RECENT STATE ADDITIONS / UPDATES**:
5/19/02 - Florida 4/15/02 - California 4/5/02 - Oklahoma 4/3/02 - Idaho 4/3/02 - Louisiana	4/3/02 - Michigan 4/2/02 - S. Dakota 4/1/02 - Louisiana 4/1/02 - Vermont 3/7/02 - Wisconsin

found this under a different Bill No. (complete text at link) http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/45leg/2r/bills/sb1400p.htm

¦ REFERENCE TITLE: surveillance advisories; public health emergencies ¦
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 ¦ State of Arizona                                                 ¦
 ¦ Senate                                                           ¦
 ¦ Forty-fifth Legislature                                          ¦
 ¦ Second Regular Session                                           ¦
 ¦ 2002                                                             ¦
 ¦                                                                  ¦
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 ¦                            SB 1400                               ¦
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 ¦                         Introduced by                            ¦
 ¦                   Senators Gerard, Guenther                      ¦
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AN ACT
AMENDING SECTIONS 36-136 AND 36-624, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES; AMENDING TITLE 36, CHAPTER 6, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES, BY ADDING ARTICLE 9; RELATING TO ENHANCED SURVEILLANCE ADVISORIES AND PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 36-136, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
36-136. Powers and duties of director; compensation of personnel
A. The director shall:
1. Be the executive officer of the department of health services and the state registrar of vital statistics but shall not receive compensation for services as registrar.
2. Perform all duties necessary to carry out the functions and responsibilities of the department.
3. Prescribe the organization of the department. The director shall appoint or remove such personnel considered necessary for the efficient work of the department and shall prescribe the duties of all personnel. The director may abolish any office or position in the department that the director believes is unnecessary.
4. Administer and enforce the laws relating to health and sanitation and the rules of the department.
5. Provide for the examination of any premises if the director has reasonable cause to believe that on the premises there exists a violation of any health law or rule of the state.
6. Exercise general supervision over all matters relating to sanitation and health throughout the state. When in the opinion of the director it is necessary or advisable, a sanitary survey of the whole or of any part of the state shall be made. The director may enter, examine and survey any source and means of water supply, sewage disposal plant, sewerage system, prison, public or private place of detention, asylum, hospital, school, public building, private institution, factory, workshop, tenement, public washroom, public rest room, public toilet and toilet facility, public eating room and restaurant, dairy, milk plant or food manufacturing or processing plant, and any premises in which the director has reason to believe there exists a violation of any health law or rule of the state that the director has the duty to administer.
7. Prepare sanitary and public health rules.
8. Perform other duties prescribed by law.
B. If the director has reasonable cause to believe that there exists a violation of any health law or rule of the state, the director may inspect any person or property in transportation through the state, and of any car, boat, train, trailer, airplane or other vehicle in which such person or property is transported, and may enforce detention or disinfection as reasonably necessary for the public health if there exists a violation of any health law or rule.
C. The director may deputize, in writing, any qualified officer or employee in the department to do or perform on the director's behalf any act the director is by law empowered to do or charged with the responsibility of doing.
D. The director may delegate to a local health department or public health services district any functions, powers or duties that the director believes can be competently, efficiently and properly performed by the health department or public health services district if:
1. The director or superintendent of the local health agency or public health services district is willing to accept the delegation and agrees to perform or exercise the functions, powers and duties conferred in accordance with the standards of performance established by the director.
2. Monies appropriated or otherwise made available to the department for distribution to or division among counties or public health services districts for local health work may be allocated or reallocated in a manner designed to assure the accomplishment of recognized local public health activities and delegated functions, powers and duties in accordance with applicable standards of performance. Whenever in the director's opinion there is cause, the director may terminate all or a part of any such delegation and may reallocate all or a part of any funds that may have been conditioned on the further performance of the functions, powers or duties conferred.
E. The compensation of all personnel shall be as determined pursuant to section 38-611.
F. The director may make and amend rules necessary for the proper administration and enforcement of the laws relating to the public health.
G. Notwithstanding subsection H, paragraph 1 of this section, the director may define and prescribe emergency measures for detecting, reporting, preventing and controlling communicable or infectious diseases or conditions if the director has reasonable cause to believe that a serious threat to public health and welfare exists. Emergency measures are effective for no longer than eighteen months.
H. The director shall, by rule:
1. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary measures for detecting, reporting, preventing and controlling communicable and preventable diseases. The rules shall declare certain diseases reportable. and shall further establish minimum periods of isolation or quarantine and procedures and measures to institute isolation or quarantine, including the right to a hearing. The rules shall allow the director to institute isolation or quarantine before the completion of a hearing if the director determines that clear and convincing evidence exists that a person poses a substantial danger to another person or the community. The rules shall prescribe measures reasonably required to prevent the occurrence of, or to seek early detection and alleviation of, disability, insofar as possible, from communicable or preventable diseases. The rules shall include reasonably necessary measures to control animal diseases transmittable to humans.
2. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary

http://www.aapsonline.org/press/nrjebbush.htm

1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9
Tucson, AZ 85716-3450
Phone: (800) 635-1196
Hotline: (800) 419-4777

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.
A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943
Omnia pro aegroto

04/03/02

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:

Kathryn Serkes
202.333.3855
kaserkes@worldnet.att.net

AAPS TELLS GOV. BUSH: VETO FORCED DRUGGING BILL

Florida Bill Threatens Civil Liberties,
Gives Unprecedented Power to Unelected Officials

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) today urged Gov. Bush to veto SB 1262, a bill that gives the State Public Health Officer powers to declare a public health emergency and to order forced drugging and treatment under the guise of responding to terrorism.

In a letter sent to the Governor, Jane M. Orient, Executive Director, writes:

"AAPS is totally opposed to SB 1262…imposing medical treatments on unwilling citizens at gunpoint, or with threats of taking children from their parents, or with other coercive measures - obliterating informed consent and due process of law. Medical consequences…could be disastrous.

"This bill gives the State Health Officer the sole, unbridled power to issue a public health advisory and 'take any action appropriate to enforce any public health advisory,' without oversight or accountability…The Legislature has abdicated its authority with respect to the alleged emergency altogether."

AAPS first sounded the alarm about these types of bills last December, gathering thousands of signatures on a letter of opposition to President Bush.. The Model State Emergency Powers Act (MEPHA) was drafted by the CDC and promoted to the states by the Department of HHS -- with promises of federal dollars for new programs, and threats of withholding funding for current ones.

The bills are so alarming that many legislators in other states are publicly opposing them, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation's largest bipartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators. "We must take a much more deliberative approach in crafting effective policy without sacrificing the rights and liberties of individuals and families," ALEC's Director of the Health and Services told AAPS.

The letter to Gov. Bush continues:

"The Florida legislation is even more frightening. It bypasses the ballot box altogether, giving life and death powers to an unelected bureaucrat…it is highly dangerous to entrust any human being with unlimited power.

"The State Health Officer could use 'any means necessary' to force vaccination or treatment on unwilling citizens, if 'there is no practical method to quarantine' such individuals, and 'if the individual poses a danger to the public health.' The degree of force, the assessment of what is 'practical,' and the definition of 'danger to public health' are all at the sole discretion of this Officer."

AAPS is also concerned that these powers could be used to invalidate all vaccine exemptions - including religious and medical -- that are now legal choices for parents who choose not to subject their children to dozens of immunizations required under blanket vaccine mandates for school attendance.

Dr. Orient raises medical issues that the legislation fails to take into account, including:

The bill fails to mention smallpox by name, even though it is the only contagious disease that is a credible biological warfare threat and for which a reasonably effective vaccine exists. "In an outbreak of measles or whooping cough, with several dozen cases, is an unvaccinated child a 'danger to public health'?"
There are many scientifically valid arguments against mass smallpox immunization campaigns -- serious adverse effects, including death.
The strain of smallpox used by terrorists may be vaccine resistant. "Thus, an entire population could be subjected to the dangers of mass vaccination while reaping no benefit at all."

Dr. Orient urges Gov. Bush to veto the bill and demand that forced vaccination and treatment be removed from it. "Moreover, no unelected official should be permitted to declare a public health emergency, nor should such a state of emergency continue without ratification by the state legislature as soon as it can be called into session," concludes Dr.Orient.

AAPS, a national non-partisan, dues-supported professional association of physicians dedicated since 1943 to protecting the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, opposes government-ordered vaccine mandates. While many vaccines are extremely useful and have saved many lives, patients and physicians should be free to determine the best course of treatment for an individual.

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Governor given wide powers to fight bioterror

AAPS TELLS GOV. BUSH: VETO FORCED DRUGGING BILL

Florida Bill Threatens Civil Liberties,Gives Unprecedented Power to Unelected Officials

Florida Bill Threatens Civil Liberties,
Gives Unprecedented Power to Unelected Officials