Broad new authority for state is considered

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

It's a scenario no one wants to imagine, but a possibility nonetheless: Bioterrorists strike Nevada, unleashing potentially fatal organisms and chemicals on an unprepared population.

State lawmakers are looking at a proposal from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that if voted into law could give state officials the authority to quarantine people, require vaccinations and seize property in the event of a bioterrorism attack or large epidemic.

In a committee hearing Tuesday in Las Vegas, Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, said he recognized people had "grave concerns" about the amount of power the act could hand local and state health officials.

"In a time of war we can live under martial law and lose all our civil rights, or we can address these issues now," Rawson said.

At the same time, Nevada's existing public health laws haven't been revised in 50 to 75 years and clearly need to be revisted, Rawson said.

Under existing quarantine laws, officials would be severely limited during a bioterrorism attack, said Dr. Donald Kwalick, chief health officer for Clark County. In order to declare a quarantine, Kwalick said he would have to get a separate court order for every individual believed to have been infected. Such requirements may have been manageable in the 1930s and 1940s when polio and influenza were the primary concerns of the health district, Kwalick said.

"But today we could be talking about thousands of potential victims spread out over a significant area," Kwalick said. "We need a mechanism in place for a quick response."

Leslie Hamner, principal deputy counsel for the Legislative Counsel Bureau's legal division, said her office is working on a draft of a health powers act for Nevada that is based on the CDC model.

Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, said she wanted assurances that Nevada's act would include an exemption for people opposed to vaccinations on religious grounds. There should also be protections in place to guard medical information collected during a quarantine, said Parnell, a member of the health care committee.

Janine Hausen of the Nevada Eagle Forum, a branch of the nationwide conservative policy watchdog organization, said the CDC's health powers act doesn't include an appeals process or oversight. The act also fails to explain whether children would be quarantined separately from their parents, Hausen said.

"Sometimes in a a state of panic, such as after 9-11, questionable laws are promoted," Hausen said.

The health care committee will hold another meeting to discuss the proposed act before making recommendations, Rawson said.