URGENT Update: Contact House Health and Human Services Committee NOW to OPPOSE CS/HB 1045: State Forced Vaccine Tracking

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Calls and Emails in Opposition Needed before House Hearing Thursday 2/1/2018 at 9:30 a.m. in Morris Hall (House Office Building 17)

Dear Florida NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

Two bills, CS/HB 1045 and CS/SB 1680, that will legally force Florida families’ vaccine status to be stored and tracked in a government run vaccine enforcement registry to be used to reach the stated goal of 100% vaccine compliance throughout Florida are moving forward quickly and we need your help to stop them.

CS/HB 1045 passed unanimously in the House Health Quality Subcommittee on January 24th and it is set for the next hearing on Thursday February 1st at 9:30 a.m. in Morris Hall of the House Office Building.

It is critical that you take action TODAY to contact every single member of the House Health and Human Services Committee (contact information below) to ask them to VOTE NO on CS/HB 1045. If you are limited on time, skip now to number 3 in the action items below.

CS/HB 1045 which requires doctors to automatically upload the vaccine status of their patients into the state vaccine tracking system without securing their expressed OPT-IN informed consent violates Section 23 of the Florida Constitution, which guarantees the people of Florida the Right of Privacy – “Every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life except as otherwise provided herein.”   

Vaccine tracking systems are used to harass or penalize law abiding citizens who do not get every single vaccine.  Forced release of private medical records and forced inclusion in a government vaccine surveillance and enforcement registry violates the Florida constitutional right “to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion.”  

We apologize for the late notice – we sent this out as soon as we could after just learning ourselves that the bill was posted last night for a hearing tomorrow!

ACTION NEEDED NOW:

1) CALL and EMAIL your Florida State Representative and Senator and ask them to OPPOSE CS/HB 1045 and CS/SB 1680. (Talking points below)

If you do not know who your Florida State Representative and Senator are or their contact information, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the “State Teams” tab and then “My State,” and your elected officials are automatically posted on the right hand side of the page http://NVICAdvocacy.org. You can also use these search engines to find your Florida legislators. Representatives:  http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/myrepresentative.aspx
Senators: https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find

2) ATTEND THE HEARING on Thursday 2/1/2018 at the Florida Capitol from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. and REGISTER YOUR OPPOSITION to CS/HB 1045!

CS/HB 1045 will have a hearing in the House Health and Human Services Committee Thursday February 1st in the House Office Building in Morris Hall (17) at the State Capitol in Tallahassee.  

The hearing is scheduled from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. and HB 1045 is currently 8th out of 10 bills on the agenda.  Agenda: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/meetingnotice.aspx?MeetingId=11749&CommitteeId=2915

Even if you aren’t testifying, everyone can print and fill out a form to submit to register opposition at the hearing: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/AppearanceRequestForm.aspx?MeetingId=11749

Morris Hall is in the House Office Building, B on this map that also shows parking:https://www.floridacapitol.myflorida.com/visitors/parking

VISIT THE OFFICES OF YOUR OWN REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR AFTER THE HEARING AND ASK THEM TO OPPOSE CS/HB 1045 and CS/SB 1680.  Explain in person why it is important for them to vote NO and how it impacts your family. Use the talking points provided.

3) CALL and EMAIL ALL of the Members of the Florida House Health and Human Services Committee asking them VOTE NO on CS/HB 1045 at Thursday’s hearing. 

Keep the calls and emails going to committee members until Thursday 2/1 at 11:00 a.m. which is the conclusion of the hearing. (phone numbers and emails below).

TALKING POINTS:

VOTE NO on CS/HB 1045 because it requires doctors to upload the vaccine status of their patients into the state vaccine tracking system SHOTS without securing their expressed OPT-IN informed consent. (lines 68-83)

Mine or my child’s records should never leave my doctor’s office or get copied from my child’s birth records from Vital Statistics (lines 49-53) to go into the registry without my permission.

These practices violate Section 23 of the Florida Constitution, which guarantees every resident of Florida the Right of Privacy – “Every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life except as otherwise provided herein.”

Vaccine tracking systems are used to harass or penalize law abiding citizens who do not get every single vaccine.  The state vaccine tracking system and the way it is being operated is a threat to the privacy and health and safety of my family.   

Please understand that a reinstatement of lines 54-61 as promised in a future amendment by Representative Pigman at the House Health Quality Subcommittee hearing on 1/24/2018 at time stamp 26:47 which allow parents to “decline participation” unfortunately won’t fix the problem.  To “decline participation” which current law allows, the health department requires a parent to send them a form after their child is already in the registry. Instead of deleting records, the health department admits they will keep them and will only limit data sharing as they admit on their site. I object to the health department having any information about my family in the vaccine tracking system at all including the requirement in lines 59-61 that “the decision to not participate in the immunization registry must be noted in the registry.”  This is not a true declination of participation since the act of declining triggers forced participation and being listed in the registry as an objector.

The only way to guarantee a true declination of participation in the registry is to prevent doctors and Vital Statistics from forwarding unconsented records at all. State law has to instead prevent the release from the source at the doctor and Vital Statistics without consent in order to 1) uphold the Florida Constitution and 2) to protect the citizens of Florida from the overreach of unconsented disclosures permitted by HIPAA for public health reasons. There is a misconception that HIPAA protects this data when the truth is we need a stricter state law on consent to protect our data from the health department.

The bill also eliminates the ability for a parent to submit a paper vaccine record to the school to meet school vaccine and exemption requirements and instead requires every student (including those who have a lawfully obtained vaccine exemption) to have a vaccine record in the registry as a condition of attending school (lines 126-134).

Nobody should be forced to have their private medical vaccination records tracked by their government. This should be an OPT-IN system for those families wanting this service. Families who are capable of keeping track of their own children’s records with their doctor or who claim a vaccine exemption should NOT be forced to be in a centralized government vaccine surveillance and enforcement database for any purpose including to attend school. Please OPPOSE CS/ HB 1045.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Florida House Health and Human Services Committee Members

Rep. W. Travis Cummings (Chair), (850) 717-5018https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4540&SessionId=86

Rep. David Santiago (Vice Chair), (850) 717-5027https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4544&SessionId=86

Rep. Bobby B. DuBose, (850) 717-5094https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4612&SessionId=86

Rep. Lori Berman, (850) 717-5090https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4517&SessionId=86

Rep. Jason T. Brodeur, (850) 717-5028https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4501&SessionId=86

Rep. Kamia L. Brown, (850) 717-5045https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4625&SessionId=86

Rep. Colleen Burton, (850) 717-5040https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4616&SessionId=86

Rep. Tracie Davis, (850) 717-5013https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4651&SessionId=86

Rep. James "J.W." Grant, (850) 717-5064https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4504&SessionId=86

Rep. Michael Grant, (850) 717-5075https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4349&SessionId=86

Rep. Roy Hardemon, (850) 717-5108https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4631&SessionId=86

Rep. Gayle B. Harrell, (850) 717-5083https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4211&SessionId=86

Rep. MaryLynn "ML" Magar, (850) 717-5082https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4575&SessionId=86

Rep. Ralph E. Massullo, MD, (850) 717-5034https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4624&SessionId=86

Rep. Cary Pigman, (850) 717-5055https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4551&SessionId=86

Rep. David Silvers, (850) 717-5087https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4627&SessionId=86

Rep. Cyndi Stevenson, (850) 717-5017https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4620&SessionId=86

Rep. Frank White, (850) 717-5002https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4645&SessionId=86

Rep. Patricia H. Williams, (850) 717-5092https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4629&SessionId=86

Rep. Clay Yarborough, (850) 717-5012https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4633&SessionId=86

4) Login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal often to check for updates. http://NVICAdvocacy.org. Bills can change many times over the legislative process.

5) Contact Florida State Directors Toni and Claire at [email protected] with any questions and please forward any legislative responses you receive.

6) Please forward this email to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal and share their concerns with their legislators as well. Our National Vaccine Information Center Facebook account has this alert posted there for sharing as well.

Sincerely,

NVIC Advocacy Team
National Vaccine Information Center
http://NVIC.org and http://NVICAdvocacy.org
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Members/ContactUs.aspx

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) works diligently to prepare and disseminate our legislative advocacy action alerts and supporting materials.  We request that organizations and members of the public forward our alerts in their original form to assure consistent and accurate messaging and effective action. Please acknowledge NVIC as originators of this work when forwarding to members of the public and like-minded organizations. To receive alerts immediately, register  at http://NVICAdvocacy.org, a website dedicated to this sole purpose and provided as a free public service by NVIC. 

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