Medical martial law may soon be permitted in Minnesota. After several contentious committee hearings, the Minnesota Emergency Health Powers Act is almost ready for debate by all members of the House and Senate.

Proponents claim the legislation prepares Minnesota for bioterrorism, but its reach is much broader. The Act, initiated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and written by the Minnesota Department of Health, expands the Governor's power and allows state control of all medical supplies not only during a bioterrorist attack, but also during any public health emergency. Perhaps more alarming, it permits health officials to quarantine citizens any day of the year - with or without a court order.

If the bill is enacted, the Governor would be authorized during a public health emergency to ignore constraints of current law and issue new orders and rules with the full force and effect of law. Depending on the nature of the emergency, the Governor could order citizens to submit to vaccination, medical examination, testing or treatment. Citizens who refuse could be placed in quarantine or charged with a misdemeanor. Physicians could be ordered to violate medical ethics, infringe on conscientiously-held beliefs, or disregard the Hippocratic Oath to "first do no harm." Orders to ration care could also be given. Physicians who refuse to follow state directives could lose their license to practice.

These coercive requirements are not mere conjecture. They were included in early drafts of the legislation, but deleted after citizen opposition. However, if the Governor is empowered to make his own laws without regard to civil liberties, these requirements could be reinstated during a declared emergency.

Authority to declare a public health emergency is broad in the Senate bill (SF 2669). Simple belief will suffice. The Governor can declare an emergency whenever an illness or health condition is believed to be caused by bioterrorism, a natural disaster, or the appearance of a new or previously-controlled bacteria, virus or biological toxin - as long as the Governor also believes a large number of people could be harmed. These terms are not defined. Technically, influenza contracted by 100 people may qualify.

But Minnesota health officials are not satisfied with having only emergency health powers. They have requested ongoing powers. Therefore, the House bill (HF 3031) proposes to give the Minnesota Department of Health uninterrupted, year-long authority to quarantine or isolate individuals or groups suspected of harboring any communicable disease considered a threat to the public's health. No court order or prior notice must be given. Occupied schools can be locked down. Children can be separated from parents. Individuals can be plucked off the street. Families can be placed under house arrest. Entire corporations can be quarantined with workers on site.

The bill undermines due process. Although a written court order is eventually required, application for the order is not necessary until 72 hours after quarantine is imposed. If a judge agrees to order quarantine, detained individuals can contest the order by requesting a hearing before a judge. The case must be heard within 72 hours after the court receives a written request for a hearing, excluding weekends and holidays. In all likelihood, citizens will be detained in quarantine at least a week before a judge even hears their side of the story.

This proposal runs counter to constitutional rights and current law. While Minnesota Statute 144.4182 requires a court order before health officials impose quarantine on a non-compliant, known carrier of a communicable disease, the proposed Health Powers Act would allow healthy citizens to be confined for three days before a judge is even contacted. Moreover, the threat of quarantine could be used by health officials to pressure citizens into accepting vaccination, testing or treatment they would otherwise refuse. No judge need ever be involved, unless the citizen resists.

To address civil liberty concerns generated by the expansion of government powers, a last-minute study of constitutional issues was tacked onto both bills. The study must be completed by January 15, 2003. That's nine months after the bill - and the powers - become law.

If the Minnesota Emergency Health Powers Act is enacted, citizens may experience greater terror at the hands of their own government than from any foreign terrorist. Minnesota health officials wrote this bill to empower their own agency. Although it authorizes the abuse of civil liberties, legislators now stand poised to make it law. When the U.S. Constitution is only an afterthought rather than a guiding principle for legislation, every citizen's life and liberty is in jeopardy.