- The bill, known as the "Model State Emergency Health
Powers Act," which authors say was written to give states more power
to quickly deal with terrorist attacks and other disasters, <news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26889has
also been defeated in Mississippi, as WorldNetDaily reported Wednesday.
-
- An ALEC summary of the bill claims it gives governors
unprecedented authority in the event of a terrorist attack or other threat
to the public health. <news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25993 WND reported
Jan. 10 that the measure grants governors the power to order the collection
of all data and records on citizens, ban firearms, take control of private
property and quarantine entire cities. And critics say it is an outright
and unnecessary threat to civil liberties.
-
- Two states, however, have passed some version of the
bill ñ South Dakota and New Mexico. Meanwhile, Minnesota "is
very close to passing the closest version of the bill that we have seen,"
though "it's still been watered down considerably to require some
studying of certain aspects," Jennifer King, director of the Health
and Human Services task force for ALEC, told WND this week.
-
- She added that most of the 34 states considering the
bill are looking at a "watered down" version of the original,
which she describes as a "positive trend."
-
- Observers in Wyoming said that state's version of the
bill was killed by an 8-1 vote March 6 in a House committee, after passing
the Senate.
-
- "The two big objections to the bill was this 'Incident
Commander,' who sounded like 'Reverend' Fortunato if you've been reading
the 'Left Behind' book series, and the fact that the bill opens with a
statement that no one would be vaccinated against their will [but] concludes
with the fact that if need be, everyone will be vaccinated with no exceptions,"
Robert Rule, owner of several radio stations across Wyoming, told WND.
-
- "What this means is that this bill will go to the
floor with a 'do not pass' recommendation from the committee," said
Don Wegner, of Hillsdale. "This carries a great deal of weight, and
it is highly unlikely that it will go any further."
-
- "We should see a really hard push [in many states]
in the next few weeks," King said.
-
-
- © 2002 WordNetDaily.com Jon E. Dougherty is a staff
reporter and columnist for WorldNetDaily
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- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26921
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