Texax (and any other interested parties) ACTION ALERT

[Guest guest]

This is an measure that will impact parental rights, and medical privacy,

profoundly if implemented. Please help kill bill CS SB 1237! Call your

Texas Senator TODAY--today's the third reading which could pass it through.

The Senate must be made to hear parents as loudly as the

pharmaceutical/public health lobby!

Your Senator's number may appear in the briefing below, but is also

available at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm or

http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml. It is probably better to call

Austin, but call the local office if you can't get through, and ask them to

forward your message.

J. Ruede, MLS

Librarian-liaison, Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders; School of

Education

Texas Christian University

Board Member, Autism Autoimmunity Project (http://www.gti.net/truegrit)

Editor, Autism Autoimmunity Project Newsletter

Mom, Deanna Dubiel

[PROVE] URGENT Call Your Senator NOW - Vaccine Tracking Bill MOVING

FORWARD

Urgent action needed Thursday 5/17/01 right away as soon as you get this

INTRUSIVE IMMUNIZATION BILL MOVING

Please Call or Fax your Senator and voice opposition to CSSB 1237 by Senator

Mike Moncrief!

The current vaccine registry law is OPT-IN, which correctly requires doctors

and insurance companies to get parents' permission before releasing

children's immunization records to this state database. The current law

also requires TDH to have written consent before entering a child into the

registry.

CSSB 1237, which contains language that would undo current protections by

requiring doctors and insurance companies to release every child's

immunization record to the Texas Department of Health (TDH) without parental

consent, just squeaked out of the Texas Senate Wednesday (5/16) on second

reading by 21-8 (just barely above the 2/3 vote required.)

The amendment added in the senate Wednesday to disallow TDH maintenance of a

database of those parents who opt out of the tracking system only alleviates

a bad symptom of an opt-out registry and does not address the root problem

and concern that PARENTS DON'T WANT THEIR CHILD'S RECORD RELEASED TO TDH

WITHOUT CONSENT PERIOD. Unfortunately, some senators have been misled to

believe that this well-intentioned amendment addresses medical privacy

concerns but it does not.

Also, this bill rewards TDH for the offensive behavior of adding millions of

children's records to the registry without parental permission in the last

couple of years in violation of current law. This bill will now make it

legal for them to continue to do this. If TDH has shown they can't be

trusted under current law where it is illegal to obtain and enter records

without consent, there is no way we can trust them to remove children after

the fact. Some parents have even tried unsuccessfully to remove their

children now.

We only need three senators to change their votes to kill this bill or to

delay the bill for a couple of days and then it is dead. We can do this if

everybody calls and puts the pressure on.

Senators who upheld parental and medical privacy rights by voting no today

were Senators Jane , Troy Frasier, , Florence Shapiro,

Duncan, Tom Haywood, Mike , and Todd Staples.

Please call or fax your State Senator immediately as soon as you get this

because the bill will most likely have a final vote on Thursday and ask him

or her to vote against CSSB 1237 in the final Senate vote. If you do not

know who your State Senator is you may find out by going to the following

website and typing in your address:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/address.htm

(phone and fax numbers below)

If your senator was listed above, please still call and thank them and ask

for their continued vote against the bill on Thursday and explain why you

still have concerns that the amendment does not address.

If your senator was not listed above, hold them accountable and RESPECTFULLY

express your disappointment that your senator did not oppose a bill that

would require your child's doctor to violate your trust and release your

child's confidential medical record to a government agency without your

consent during the second reading on Wednesday and that you hope they will

reconsider their position and vote against the bill during the final vote

Thursday.

On all calls, please make sure to make the following points:

Please ask Senator __________ to vote against CSSB 1237 in the final vote on

Thursday.

I AM STRONGLY OPPOSED TO CSSB 1237, because:

I don't want my private physician releasing any portion of my child's

confidential medical record to anyone, especially a government agency,

without my consent.

The well-intentioned amendment added at the second reading on Wednesday to

prohibit TDH from maintaining a list of " non-consenters " does not address

this root problem of release by a physician without consent in the bill. It

merely alleviates one annoying symptom of an OPT-OUT registry.

A parent should not have to take steps to remove their child from a

government database after the fact - TDH should have to follow the current

law and get a parent's permission before listing children in the TDH Vaccine

registry.

I can keep track of my child's medical records just fine and don't want or

need the government medling with them. Parents who want this service can

say " yes " now - I shouldn't have to say " no " to keep my child out.

This bill is a step backwards for parental and medical privacy rights.

District 1

Bill Ratliff

512/463-0101

fax 512/475-3751

District 2

Cain

512/463-0102

fax 512/463-7202

District 3

Todd Staples

512/463-0103

fax 512/463-1526

District 4

Bernsen

512/463-0104

fax 512/463-6373

District 5

Steve Ogden

512/463-0105

fax 512/463-5713

District 6

Gallegos

512/463-0106

fax 512/463-0346

District 7

Jon

512/463-0107

fax 512/463-8810

District 8

Florence Shapiro

512/463-0108

fax 512/463-7579

District 9

Jane

512/463-0109

fax 512/463-0923

District 10

512/463-0110

fax 512/463-7003

District 11

Mike

512/463-0111

fax 512/475-3727

District 12

Mike Moncrief

512/463-0112

fax 512/475-3745

District 13

Rodney Ellis

512/463-0113

fax 512/463-0006

District 14

Gonzalo Barrientos

512/463-0114

fax 512/463-5949

District 15

Whitmire

512/463-0115

fax 512/475-3737

District 16

Carona

512/463-0116

fax 512/463-3135

District 17

J.E. (Buster) Brown

512/463-0117

fax 512/463-0639

District 18

Ken Armbrister

512/463-0118

fax 512/475-3736

District 19

L. Madla, Jr.

512/463-0119

fax 512/463-1017

District 20

F. Truan

512/463-0120

fax 512/463-0326

District 21

Judith Zaffirini

512/463-0121

fax 512/475-3738

District 22

Sibley

512/463-0122

fax 512/475-3729

District 23

Royce West

512/463-0123

fax 512/463-0299

District 24

Troy Fraser

512/463-0124

fax 512/475-3732

District 25

Jeff Wentworth

512/463-0125

fax 512/463-7794

District 26

Van de Putte

512/463-0126

fax 512/463-2114

District 27

Eddie Lucio, Jr.

512/463-0127

fax 512/463-0061

District 28

Duncan

512/463-0128

fax 512/463-2424

District 29

Eliot Shapleigh

512/463-0129

fax 512/463-0218

District 30

Tom Haywood

512/463-0130

fax 512/463-8874

District 31

Teel Bivins

512/463-0131

fax 512/475-3733

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Dawn

PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)

prove@... (email)

http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)

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PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and

practices that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is to

prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right of

every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for

themselves and their family.

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