Hochul sneaking through Covid Camps regulation AND mandatory adult vax database bill
Unelected New York Governor Kathy Hochul is trying to bypass the legislature and give herself sweeping new powers with a recently proposed regulation that would allow her to arrest and imprison suspected public health threats and imprison them without trial in Covid camps and other settings. The language defining who could be detained is so broad it could include anybody including those who have not received Covid injections. We only have until February 14 to stop this proposed regulation.
She is doing this at the same time that legislation (Senate Bill S75a/Assembly Bill A279a) is pending that would force all adult vaccination records into a state run database. The combination of the two would give the Governor the data she needs to identify unvaccinated adults and the dictatorial power to enforce whatever detainment policy she chooses.
Hochul’s effort follows the withdrawal of a New York Assembly Bill A416 that would have allowed the arrest and imprisonment of suspected public health risks without trial. A416 got scathing worldwide media attention in December. The bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember N. Nick Perry, withdrew the bill on December 22, 2021, seven days after Hochul submitted her proposed regulation. Much of the corporate media dismissed concerns about the bill because after six years in the Assembly it still did not have a required companion bill in the State Senate, and no other Assemblymembers signed on as co-sponsors.
Clearly, the failure of the bill in the legislature prompted Hochul to try to give herself completely new powers via regulations. Regulations are supposed to be minor rules devised by the bureaucracies to implement a law passed by the legislature and signed by Governor. But Hochul is attempting to give herself entirely new powers through the regulatory back door. Regulations only require a posting in the Register, a New York State publication, and waiting a specified period for public comment.
Cuomo used to do this all the time. If he could not get a bill he wanted passed in the legislature he would simply write regulations that did the same thing, and our feckless legislature rarely did anything to stop him or to protect their responsibilities as lawmakers.
You can see the proposed rules here: Amendment of Part 2, Section 405.3 and Addition of Section 58-1.14 to Title 10 NYCRR (Investigation of Communicable Disease; Isolation and Quarantine)
You need to take action now to stop this regulation:
Send messages: Please click here to link to our affiliated ally the Autism Action Network to send messages to Governor Hochul and your own State Senator and Assemblymember. They need to do their jobs and tell Hochul to stop this usurpation of their responsibilities.
Send Comments: The regulation is now in a public comment period. Please send comments. They become part of the official record and the NYS Department of Health is required to respond to them. The contact information for official submitting a comment, which is open is:
New York State Department of Health
Bureau of Program Counsel, Regulatory Affairs Unit
Re: Amendment of Part 2, Section 405.3 and Addition of Section 58-1.14 to Title 10 NYCRR (Investigation of Communicable Disease; Isolation and Quarantine)
Corning Tower, Empire State Plaza, Rm. 2438
Albany, New York 12237-0031
Phone: (518) 473-7488
FAX: (518) 473-2019
regsqna@health.ny.gov
Attention: Katherine Ceroalo
Make phone calls and comment on social media: You also need to get on the phone and call the Governor’s office and leave a message (real people don’t answer the phone in her office anymore.) Call the leaders of the legislature and let them know that you do not want the regulation to move forward, and you want to see S75a/A279a stopped. Their contact information is below:
Governor Kathy Hochul (518) 474-8390, (212) 681-4580, Hochul only takes voice mail. Call anyway.
Fax (518) 474-1513
https://www.facebook.com/govkathyhochul
Twitter: @GovKathyHochul
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Albany: Telephone (518) 455-2585, (518) 455-2715
Albany: Fax (518) 426-6844, (518) 426-6811
District: Telephone (914) 423-4031, Fax (914) 423-0979,
New York City: Telephone (212) 298-5585, Fax (212) 298-5623
scousins@nysenate.gov
https://www.facebook.com/andrea.stewartcousins
Twitter: @AndreaSCousins
Speaker of the Assembly Carl Heastie
Albany: (518) 455-3791, District: (718) 654-6539
speaker@nyassembly.gov
https://www.facebook.com/carl.heastie
Twitter: @carlheastie
While Hochul is sneaking this regulation through, a bill (Senate Bill S75a, Hoylman/Assembly Bill A279a, Gottfried) that creates a mandatory database for all vaccines given to adults, was passed by the health committees in both houses last June, and could be sent to the floors of each house for a vote at any time. If passed, adults in New York would lose the right to refuse to have our vaccine records recorded in an existing state database and physicians would be required to hand over all patient vaccination records to the database. This would give the State the power to track all adults according to their vaccination status, and identifying people for arrest or other enforcement
Concerns that the database cold be used by immigration enforcement agencies to identify and locate people for deportation, and that enforcement measures would fall disproportionately on people of color has held up a vote so far of S75a/A279a. But that could change very quickly and without notice.
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