*SAMPLE TEXT TO YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS*
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Dear State Legislator,
Currently, public health is the province of local and state governments, but the federal government is pushing for the World Health Organization to take greater power over pandemics.
In 2017, on the last day of the Obama-Biden Administration, the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine issued a final rule giving the World Health Organization the power to decide what a “Public Health Emergency” is under U.S. law.
The regulations require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to defer to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, treating any WHO Public Health Emergency of International Concern as a U.S. Public Health Emergency.
The Secretary must even treat the WHO’s “temporary or standing recommendations for purposes of preventing or promptly detecting the occurrence or reoccurrence of the communicable disease” as a U.S. Public Health Emergency.
Think about that. It’s an incredibly broad authority.
In 2022, 15 state attorneys general filed a legal petition challenging the 2017 regulation. The 15 states represented were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Their petition points out that:
- The WHO Constitution was never ratified as a treaty by two-thirds of the Senate. Instead, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the President to participate in the WHO.
- When authorizing participation in the WHO, Congress stated that it approved participation “with the understanding that nothing in the Constitution of the World Health Organization in any manner commits the United States to enact any specific legislative program regarding any matters referred to in said Constitution.”
- Delegating decisions outside the executive branch allows the President and his officers to disclaim responsibility for important policy decisions, effectively rendering the key decisionmakers beyond the reach of the voting public.
- Allowing an international organization to determine when public health emergencies exist in the United States necessarily allows that organization to use police powers that were neither given to it or to the federal government by the States.
The attorneys generals’ arguments were airtight, but the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary rejected their petition and when Texas and Oklahoma sued, the case got thrown out, with the court ruling that the states lacked “a concrete injury in fact that is traceable to the challenged definitions.”
Please read this analysis of why the lawsuit failed and what should be done now: https://open.substack.com/pub/bailiwicknews/p/on-a-july-2022-petition-filed-by
In May 2023, Florida passed a law that state health officials “may not adopt, implement, or enforce an international health organization’s public health policies or guidelines unless authorized to do so under state law, rule, or executive order issued by the Governor.”
In March 2024, the Louisiana state senate unanimously approved a bill stating that “the World Health Organization, United Nations, and the World Economic Forum shall have no jurisdiction or power within the state of Louisiana.” That bill has to be approved by the state House of Representatives to become law.
In May 2024, the Oklahoma legislature sent a bill to Governor Stitt that declares, "The World Health Organization, the United Nations, and the World Economic Forum have no jurisdiction in this state."
Every state should reject this power-grab!
This issue has become even more urgent since June 1, 2024, when the World Health Assembly adopted amendments to the International Health Regulations that give the World Health Organization even more power.
Please do anything you can to make sure our state and localities retain their power over public health emergencies.
Sincerely,
Your Name