--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rense.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Emergency-Powers

Bill Gaining Momentum

By Jon Dougherty

WorldNetDaily.com

3-20-2

The vast majority of states currently are considering a piece of model legislation that critics charge could turn out to be a major threat to civil liberties.



According to the


As reported


An initial version of the bill was drafted in October 2001, just a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, by The Center for Law and the Public's Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities, in collaboration with several other organizations, including the


But as word - and criticism - of the measure spread, its authors released a second draft Dec. 21, though ALEC says much of the original intent remained unchanged.



"While some of these changes reflect the concerns shared by groups interested in protecting and promoting civil liberties, other changes were merely cosmetic, inexplicable or altogether nonexistent," said a policy analysis paper issued by ALEC, which opposes the model bill.



"Moreover, the release of a revised draft does not mask the original intent of the authors, nor does it prevent states that have already introduced the original draft from considering the original provisions," the group said.



Jennifer King, the director of the Health and Human Services task force for ALEC, said that although "we're not breathing easy yet," most states so far have chosen to "water down" the model bill.



She told WorldNetDaily that South Dakota is the first and only state thus far to pass the measure, but it, too, "was a fairly watered-down version."



"It doesn't have all the offensive quarantine or ration language in it that the CDC model had," she said.



But Minnesota "is very close to passing the closest version of the bill that we have seen," she said, though "it's still been watered down considerably to require some studying of certain aspects." Other states have been "active" in holding hearings regarding the bill.