Democrat Senator Pettey goes against a portion of a Kansas bill that upholds the Constitution
Democrat Senator Pettey goes against a portion of a Kansas bill that upholds the Constitution
Opinion/Health Freedom
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee met on Monday, February 13, 2023, for a hearing on certain bills that have the potential to be signed into law in Kansas. Among these bills was SB 6 which would do a couple different things, but specifically would restrict the authority of the Secretary of Health and Environment and health officers to designate infectious or contagious diseases by rules and regulations. It would further repeal the authority of the secretary to quarantine individuals and impose associated penalties.
“What this bill does is converts an inept Public Health from an inept dictatorship to an educate and recommend status which is appropriate,” Senator Mark Steffen (R) explained at the hearing. “This is a freedom issue.”
Many proponents of the bill showed up to speak, highlighting varied reasons they choose to support the bill as introduced.
Hospital and Healthcare Clinic CEO Brian Anderson educated the committee on the Spanish flu epidemic and how the California State Board of Health medical doctor W. H. Kellogg forced people to wear masks in 1918 only to admit in 1919 that the masks could not prevent the spreading of the disease, writing, “The conclusion is definitely that the mask is ineffective. To absolutely quarantine a town against the rest of the world would be of no value after the first case had appeared in that town.” His conclusion was also confirmed by multiple studies.
“I’m a sub-specialist and people are begging me to be their primary care physician,” said Dr. Gaylen Perry, who also claimed 19 physicians read her written testimony and gave her permission to speak for them as well. “Because of what they’ve seen with physician’s healthcare systems and public healthcare agencies, they’ve lost confidence. Harmful public policies have been dictated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the HHS, and this has been lockstep all the way down to the state and the county. Physicians were using unregulated, non-FDA approved medical products on patients, and counter measures were used in hospitals where doctors were told they had to use this, and hospitals were incentivized to use that. Doctors literally became the arm of the state. That should keep you up at night.”
Dr. Perry, who resigned from her job during the pandemic, also said that Kansas physicians were threatened with their license if they spoke out against harmful medical and public policies and that our own government censored ivy league physicians.
Douglas County Precinct 52 committeewoman Nicole Vannicola (R) explained how she was fortunate to have homeschooled her three children so that they didn’t miss school during the lockdowns or have to deal with the masking and social distancing. She said she was grateful she didn’t have to worry about such issues as much with her own children until she had to take her 10-year-old son to the hospital for a medical procedure. She claimed her son could not breathe with the mask on, but the doctor would refuse to see him if the boy would not wear the mask. Vannicola further explained that the doctor’s way of working around her son not wearing a mask in the hospital was to say, “I can meet him in the parking lot, and we’ll hold up a sheet as he undresses.”
“That was the best that he could come up with for not doing any harm,” Vannicola said. “For the oath that he has taken. These are the things that happen to the People when we are made to follow these ‘guidelines’ instead of giving us the option. So, I strongly urge you to please support SB 6.”
Despite the numerous issues that concerned Kansans brought up, it was the testimony of former Senator and Special Deputy of Government Affairs for Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Greg Smith that ranking minority member for Public Health and Welfare Senator Pat Pettey (D) most notably chose to question.
“The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department supports senate bill 6, but our support is focused strictly on page 5, lines 32 to 34 of the bill which removes law enforcement from the equation of forcibly taking people out of their homes or forcing them to certain areas or things like that,” Smith said in his testimony. “Our concern with that is twofold actually…. One, it’s not constitutional. We don’t have probable cause to take people out of their home. We require probable cause to make any kind of arrest or custodial type of thing. Second, we’re just not equipped with the proper equipment to do that kind of thing. Particularly as some kind of serious health emergency.”
Senator Pettey questioned Smith on whether he or anyone at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department ever had to forcibly take people out of their homes. Smith said they did not during the pandemic. She then asked if he knew of any sheriff’s department in the state of Kansas that did, to which Smith said he didn’t have any personal knowledge of any that did.
Under K.S.A. 65-129b (2), the local health officer or the secretary “may order any sheriff, deputy sheriff or other law enforcement officer of the state or any subdivision to assist in the execution or enforcement of any order issued under this section.”
SB 6 would get rid of this part of the statute. According to Smith this was a “gut and go” of a budget bill done on the senate floor. Senator Pettey rebutted Smith’s claim, stating that this was added in a conference committee in 2005.
The problem is, Senator Pettey ignores what Smith said about how the statute is actually unconstitutional, going against the fourth amendment which states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
This statute was unconstitutional in 2005 and is unconstitutional today. However, she seems to defend this part of the statute due to it not having happened in Kansas… yet. Nevertheless, it should have never been added in the first place and SB 6 is actually righting that wrong, shrinking the tyrannical government that Senator Pettey seems so adamant to protect.
Very well done!!