Crazy!

I thought it might be a joke when I first read about it this weekend. We fact-checked it yesterday. It’s not.

Happy Tuesday!

Today, I wanted to share some very good thoughts on smart investing with you. But before we do that, I wanted to make sure you’ve heard about this crazy bill that’s just been proposed in New York.

Assembly Bill A416 – currently in committee in the New York State Senate – “relates to the removal of cases, contacts, and carriers of communicable diseases who are potentially dangerous to the public health.”

It gives Governor Cuomo the right to send anyone who he feels might be endangering public health in any way – either by having an illness, being in proximity with others, or for virtually any other reason – to a detention center for up to 60 days without due process.

Moreover, the bill would allow Cuomo and his deputies to impose medical procedures on such detainees without their consent.

Some key provisions of the bill:

* If a person or group is determined “by clear and convincing evidence” to be a danger to others as a case, contact, carrier or “suspected case” [of an illness] by the governor and commissioner, “the governor or his or her delegee… may order the removal and/or detention of such a person or of a group of such persons by issuing a single order.”

* Those being detained are to be held in a medical facility or “other appropriate facility or premises designated by the governor or his or her delegee.”

* Anyone who is detained “shall not conduct himself or herself in a disorderly manner, and shall not leave or attempt to leave” until they are given permission.

* Anyone “who may have been exposed to or infected by a contagious disease” can be forced to complete an appropriate, prescribed course of treatment, preventive medication or vaccination.”

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Nick Perry, wrote in a tweet, “There is no intent, no plan, or provisions on my bill to take away or violate any rights, or liberties that all Americans are entitled to under our constitution, either state or federal.”

Really?

You can read the full text of the bill here.