HCR 2056 Disables Public Health

Please vote no on HCR 2056, titled “Medical Mandates; Right to Refuse.” Public health is an executive function that must operate in real time. Health departments exist to respond quickly to emerging threats, using provisional, revisable tools that can be adjusted as conditions change. HCR 2056 constitutionally paralyzes the health department’s ability to do is job. The so-called exceptions in this proposal do not preserve public-health function. They do not apply to population-level prevention, outbreak control, school or facility mitigation, or early response to emerging risks. They are irrelevant to the situations health departments are responsible for managing. As written, the amendment disables the health department’s ability to respond to new public-health challenges at all. A constitutional, absolute prohibition makes public-health protection impossible. Statutes allow delegation, revision, and correction. Constitutions do not. Locking operational public-health authority into the Constitution eliminates the state’s ability to act when rapid response, even on limited information, is required. Individual autonomy is already protected through existing law. This amendment does not add protection. It permanently removes the state’s capacity to respond. Advancing this constitutional amendment permanently disables a core state function for which you are responsible. I urge you to oppose HCR 2056.