Title: The CDC Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, The CSIS Model Operational Guidelines for Disease Exposure Control and State Legislation for Effective Disease Outbreak Control (2007 Third Year Paper)
Author(s): Lindsay L. Rodman
Subject & Subject keywords: Food and Drug Law "CDC" "CSIS"
Abstract:A host of concerning events within the past six years, including September 11, 2001, the anthrax attacks that closely followed, and outbreaks of SARS and avian flu, have inspired public health and homeland security experts to urge states to write legislation creating the capability for effective disease exposure control in the event of a serious outbreak. The most significant and comprehensive of these efforts came from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (“CSIS”). The guidelines developed by CSIS in 2005 represent a treatise on disease exposure control, but leave states with little guidance on how to legislate to effectuate the treatise. In 2002, and completely unaffiliated with CSIS’s efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention commissioned the drafting of a Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (“MSEHPA”). After two criticized drafts, the third and final version, which was quite different from the first two, came from the Turning Point Collaborative. The two pieces of model legislation, MSEHPA and the Turning Point final draft, provide a helpful framework for discerning what state legislation creating sufficient disease exposure control capability should look like. Using the CSIS guidelines to determine what capabilities would be needed, this paper examines the provisions in the two pieces of model legislation. In the end, it becomes apparent that only by reading the three documents together can states find comprehensive guidance for what must be included in legislation for effective disease exposure control.