Replies

I looked up the bill to get the text and could not find a definition. Maybe I'm using the web site incorrectly.

I did find this:

HB2044 board of dental examiners; fees. (NOW: enhanced surveillance advisory; bioterrorism)

Here's the site:

What concerns me is the wording from the article..."order medical examinations and even isolate and quarantine people without court approval"...

This puts state powers on the level of the unconstitutional War and Emergency Powers Act and FEMA's executive ordered powers.

My concern is who will enforce these new powers ? There's not enough law enforcement personnel in Arizona to "quarantine" any sizeable population (which I assume this bill is refering to) and carry out their normal duties. Will the National Guard be activated ? Regular Military ? Will Posse Comitatus be null and void ?

Someone help me here, without the text of the Bill there's some unanswered questions that frankly scare me.

Well, it's obviously something that we'd better find out about before the next election. I'd hate to see something like this in the hands of someone like Nepolitano.

Nearly all politicians scare me, not just in Arizona.

Thanks; I'm going to find out which of my legislators voted for this travesty.

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