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H. 3988
STATUS INFORMATION
Concurrent Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Chumley, Haddon, Nutt, Burns, Allison, Magnuson, Long, Taylor, McGarry, Jones, Huggins and Forrest
Document Path: l:\council\bills\rt\17988vr21.docx
Introduced in the House on March 2, 2021
Currently residing in the House Committee on Invitations and Memorial Resolutions
Summary: Memorialize the US Congress re: Vaccination Bill of Rights
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
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3/2/2021 House Introduced (House Journal-page 8)
3/2/2021 House Referred to Committee on Invitations and Memorial
Resolutions (House Journal-page 8)
4/6/2021 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Taylor,
McGarry, Jones
4/7/2021 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Huggins
4/20/2021 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Forrest
View the latest legislative information at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
TO MEMORIALIZE THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO ENACT A COVID-19 VACCINE BILL OF RIGHTS FOR THE PURPOSES OF DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTIES OF ITS CITIZENS, PROMOTING SOUND SCIENCE, AND OUTLINING A FRAMEWORK OF BEST PRACTICES FOR STATE AUTHORITIES AND FEDERAL REGULATORS TO DEVELOP IN THIS EVOLVING PHASE OF EXPERIMENTAL VACCINE ADMINISTRATION AND IMPLEMENTATION.
Whereas, the Founders designated that a Bill of Rights was necessary to guard individual liberty against encroachments from state and federal actors, public and private; and
Whereas, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution explicitly directs states not to "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"; and
Whereas, no COVID vaccine is FDA-approved but some are authorized under a temporary Emergency Use Authorization as experimental (investigational) agents only; and
Whereas, emergency use products are specifically prohibited by federal law, 21 U.S.C. Section 360bbb-3, from being mandated: "Authorization for medical products for use in emergencies ... require[s] ...the option to accept or refuse administration of the product"; and
Whereas, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices affirmed in August 2020 that under an Emergency Use Authorization, experimental vaccines are not allowed to be mandatory; and
Whereas, decades-old universally accepted codes of medical ethics, including the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki, absolutely prohibit coercing individuals to participate in a medical experiment; and
Whereas, forty percent of respondents in at least one U.S. poll reported that they would opt out of taking experimental COVID vaccines; and
Whereas, it is neither feasible nor safe to mandate experimental vaccination given the large number of COVID-19-recovered patients in the general population and the FDA/Pfizer/Moderna protocols which excluded COVID-19-recovered patients; and
Whereas, it is neither feasible nor safe to administer experimental vaccines to many groups of patients, such as persons with post-natural infections, waning titers, or allergic reactions, as well as childbearing women, among others; and
Whereas, public and private measures are nonetheless being considered to mandate experimental vaccinations in order to participate in certain public activities and functions of daily American life including, but not limited to, employment, in-person school attendance, public transportation, and concert performances; and
Whereas, "vaccine passports", "digital health IDs", and other such required documentation pose substantial risks to personal privacy and equal treatment before the law for all citizens of South Carolina as well as the United States generally; and
Whereas, administration of the experimental COVID-19 vaccines according to guidelines established by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices does not provide adequate protections for average Americans concerned about potential health hazards associated with the inoculations; and
Whereas, the public is entitled to receive unbiased, transparent, easily accessible medical information related to all vaccines from their public health officials; and
Whereas, the emergency powers assumed by the chief executives of certain states, as well as municipal leaders, violate certain unalienable rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and, therefore, deserve redress; and
Whereas, while these legitimate grievances are pursued by the courts of various states, state lawmakers must enshrine certain rights against encroachment by decrees that are not medically or scientifically indicated, such as vaccine mandates, in order to ensure the continuity of these rights; and
Whereas, a COVID-19 Vaccine Bill of Rights memorialized by this resolution against COVID-19 vaccine mandates provides an example of adoption for other legislative bodies across the United States to be recognized and upheld by the attorneys general of those states; and
Whereas, the major principles of this Vaccine Bill of Rights must include a minimum of four of the following six provisions:
(1) No persons will be mandated, coerced, forced, or pressured to take an experimental or "investigational" medication.
(2) No physician or nurse shall be asked by an employer to promote a COVID-19 vaccine.
(3) All persons reserve the right, at all times, to determine what is in their own best medical interest without threat to their livelihood or freedom of movement.
(4) All persons must be given access to independent information to help them determine what is in their own best medical interest, including the risk of death based upon age/condition from contracting COVID-19 naturally. This must include information from sources that are independent of a conflict of interest. For example, pharmaceutical companies have an inherent conflict of interest, as do governmental or quasi-governmental institutions. Such information can be included but cannot be the sole source of information.
(5) The frail elderly are additionally entitled to a knowledgeable, independent advocate with medical training to help them determine their own medical interest.
(6) Private businesses operating within the jurisdiction have no legal authority to require or mandate or coerce medication or experimental medication for any persons; and
Whereas, technical guidance for employers released by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in December should not be understood to undermine employee constitutional rights laid out herein; and
Whereas, state legislative bodies must practice oversight of such federal assistance consistent with their enumerated powers; and
Whereas, out-of-state commercial vendors, including Ticketmaster, cannot require venue operators and organizers to mandate proof of vaccination from concertgoers and other paying customers before freely entering a venue on private or public property; and
Whereas, K-12 vaccinations cannot be required without certain clear and consistent exemptions applied, among them medical and conscience clauses, or risk forfeiting a district's or school board's authority in the State of South Carolina to authorize such a mandate, nor can a vaccine mandate for these populations be a factor in state school-aid funding; and
Whereas, interstate carriers such as airlines and all forms of public transit calling for so-called "vaccine passports" as a condition of entry cannot be allowed to operate with state licensure and waivers, and furthermore this resolution would call on federal entities such as the Federal Aviation Authority to issue new rules prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates for all carrier crews and customers. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, memorialize the United States Congress to enact a Vaccine Bill of Rights for the purposes of defending the constitutional liberties of its citizens, promoting sound science, and outlining a framework of best practices for state authorities and federal regulators to develop in this evolving phase of experimental vaccine administration and implementation.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the President of the United States, Governor Henry McMaster, each member of the South Carolina Congressional Delegation, and the chief executive officer of the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
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April 20, 2021 at 12:33 PM