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Sweeping bioterrorism measure gutted

The Assembly health panel says a commission should handle the issue.

By Aurelio Rojas -- Bee Staff Writer

Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, April 17, 2002A key legislative panel Tuesday derailed a bioterrorism bill that would have allowed forcible quarantining of infected Californians and seizure of hospitals and drugstores by the state.

Responding to concerns by civil liberties and business groups, the Assembly Health Committee gutted Assemblyman Keith Richman's measure and established a commission to study the issue.

In amending AB 1763, the Assembly panel said the commission will allow for broad public input and sharing of information between the state Department of Health Services and the Legislature.

Richman, the Legislature's only physician, expressed disappointment with the committee's action and warned that California is not prepared for a bioterrorism attack.

"There's no certainty that in two or three or five years, the attention being paid to public health preparedness will be the same," said Richman, R-Sun Valley.

Richman, who also has a master's degree in public health, told the committee that public health has long been an underfunded and ignored function of state government.

"That's something that we just can't allow," said Richman, whose measure was based on a model proposed by the Bush administration during the still-unsolved anthrax attacks that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

But Ken August, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Services, said state officials have been working diligently to protect the public.

"California is better prepared than any state in the nation to respond to bioterrorism or any other disaster," August said, adding that the federal government also is providing nearly $100 million to the state to strengthen its preparedness.

Helen Thomson, chairwoman of the Assembly Health Committee, said the sweeping proposals in Richman's 40-page bill required input from the many "stakeholders" who would have been affected.

"Coming into recognition and trying to deal with disaster planning is very hard," Thomson said. "But it's my belief -- and (that of) a number of people on this committee -- that the best way to achieve the goal is through the commission."

Richman's measure also would have permitted mandatory vaccination or treatment of Californians and destruction of contaminated property without the owners' consent.

Valerie Navarro Small, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed concern about how the measure would be enforced. She called for "the least restrictive means in order to accomplish governmental goals."

Matt Moretti, a legislative advocate for the California Healthcare Association, said the hospital group also had reservations about Richman's measure.

"There are a number of concerns that we have with the bill, including commandeering a hospital in conflict with current law," Moretti said. While acknowledging the measure's controversial nature, Richman said quarantining people and commandeering property are issues that need to be debated because of the increasing threat of bioterrorism and spread of such deadly diseases as smallpox.

Existing state law allows local health officials to take such measures as quarantining tuberculosis patients who fail to take medication or requiring certain vaccinations for schoolchildren.

The governor also has certain emergency powers during a state of emergency, including the authority to commandeer or use private property or personnel, for which the state is required to pay reasonable value.

Richman said the intent of his measure is to place all such regulations under one legal umbrella and allow "perfectly appropriate public health measures" to be used to combat bioterrorism. "The state of California currently has no protection for civil liberties -- other than a writ of habeas corpus," Richman said.

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