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Know Your Rights
Declaration of a National Emergency With Respect to the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic (White House, Oct 24, 2009)
Quarantine decision will be left to the locals (MSNBC)
"Many states adopted new legislation to deal with emerging health emergencies in the wake of Sept. 11, says James Hodge, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and executive director of the Centers for Law and the Public’s Health. Hodge and others at the center drafted a model for this kind of legislation that’s been adopted in whole or in part by 35 states.
"Although the federal government can declare a state of emergency, that only serves to free up resources -- such as its stockpiled medicines -- for use by the states, Hodge explains.
"The next steps, including the power to isolate or quarantine citizens, rests in the hands of the states, or in some cases, local governments. Most can choose to do so on a case-by-case basis."
Will Swine Flu Merit Quarantines? If So, New Laws Give States Authority (ABA Journal)
"But if quarantines are needed--and Hodge emphasizes there’s no evidence so far that they are a necessity here--it will likely be up to state and local governments to take action. Two model laws drafted by the Centers for Law and the Public Health give states specific authority to act. They are the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act and the more comprehensive Turning Point Model State Public Health Act. Hodge says more than half the states have adopted some form of the model laws.
"States acting under such laws could order flu testing, ban public gatherings, and issue a sweeping quarantine order, Hodge says. Those states without the new laws may have to rely on more general emergency powers, he says."
National Emergency Powers, Congressional Research Service, August 30, 2007
"With the exception of the habeas corpus clause, the Constitution makes no allowance for the suspension of any of its provisions during a national emergency. Disputes over the constitutionality or legality of the exercise of emergency powers are judicially reviewable. Indeed, both the judiciary and Congress, as co-equal branches, can restrain the executive regarding emergency powers. So can public opinion. Furthermore, since 1976, the President has been subject to certain procedural formalities in utilizing some statutorily delegated emergency authority. The National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) eliminated or modified some statutory grants of emergency authority; required the President to declare formally the existence of a national emergency and to specify what statutory authority, activated by the declaration, would be used; and provided Congress a means to countermand the President's declaration and the activated authority being sought."
Bush issues first-ever non-disaster declaration of an emergency, New York Times, January 13, 2009
"The president's power to declare a state of emergency is typically used after hurricanes, floods or other natural disasters, although Mr. Stanzel said presidents have occasionally declared emergencies in advance of an anticipated event. But never before, he said, has an advance emergency declaration been used for a "non-disaster.""
Pandemic Flu - Problem and Solution
"The World Health Organization...cannot mandate vaccines for the world's population...The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or President could declare a national state of emergency and recommend that states mandates shots accordingly, but it would ultimately be up to individual states to make their own assessments for their residents and to issue their own individual mandates, or not, accordingly." [emphasis added]
Jacobson v Massachusetts: It's Not Your Great-Great-Grandfather's Public Health Law - American Journal of Public Health
"Preserving the public's health in the 21st century requires preserving respect for personal liberty."
State Health Powers
The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, The History - September 19, 2003
The Centers for Law and the Public's Health: The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act
The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), 2002
The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act - October 23, 2001 draft
The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act - December 21, 2001 final
BROAD POWERS:
RWJF provides "Turning Point" funds to expand public health powers. In South Carolina, Health Deparment officials worried about losing power and instead, they "felt their laws were sufficiently general to cover any unforeseen circumstance." (p. 6)
State by State - Government Health Powers Laws
U.S. Code - Quarantine/Public Health Emergencies
MN Government Health
Powers Law
Minnesota Government Health Powers: Your Rights and Government Powers if Swine Flu Strikes
Minnesota's Emergency Health Powers Powerpoint
Minnesota Department of Health: 2005 Updates to the Law on Isolation and Quarantine
NOTE: 24/7/365 authority underscored on page 8, paragraph 3, last sentence.
Minnesota Isolation, Quarantine and Mass Dispensing Law with 2005 Amendments: Minnesota Statutes, sections 144.419-144.4197
NOTE: The expiration dates were removed, the section made permanent. The 2009 legislature also removed the language about deadly force, but read its approval for continuing use of deadly force into the Senate Judiciary Committee record.
Minnesota State Emergency Management and
Government Health Powers Statutes
Minnesota Statute 12.21
Minnesota Statute 12.28
Minnesota Statute 12.31
Minnesota Statute 12.32
Minnesota Statute 12.34
Minnesota Statute 12.39
Minnesota Statute 12.61
Minnesota Statute 144.419
Minnesota Statute 144.4195
Minnesota Statute 144.4196
Minnesota Statute 144.4197
Minnesota Statute 148.235
Minnesota Statute 151.37
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Citizens' Council on Health Care is a non-profit, independent health care policy organization that supports free-market ideas in health care.
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