Kansas senator once again tries to limit state health officials’ authority

TOPEKA — A Kansas lawmaker known for pushing discredited treatments for people with COVID-19 urged a bill Thursday pumped from the same vein: An attempt to strip state health officials of their authority to fight infectious diseases.

Officials from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the proposed bill would pose significant health hazards. 

 Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson, an anesthesiologist who has been investigated for prescribing a discredited treatment of livestock de-wormer to COVID-19 patients, has been a frequent critic of safety measures taken by the governor and state health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

His latest endeavor, Senate Bill 391, would strip state and local government authority to impose quarantines and other measures meant to slow the spread of contagious diseases. Similar legislation has failed to gain traction in previous years. 

 “(The bill) via an advisory role brings humility and sincerity to a problematic, chronically ill government department,” Steffen said to his fellow lawmakers Thursday,

Among other bill provisions, the state Secretary of Health and Environment could not designate infectious and contagious diseases in the state, meaning health care providers, hospitals, and laboratories would no longer be required to report cases of infectious and contagious diseases to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

 The bill would also remove the secretary’s authority to take action to prevent the spread of infectious or contagious diseases. Instead the secretary would submit a report to the Legislature on the diseases and recommend ways to prevent disease spread. 

Current requirements that mandate social workers, teachers and school administrators report cases of infection to public health authorities would be removed. Local health officers, counties and local boards of health would no longer be able to prohibit public gatherings in cases of infectious and contagious disease outbreak.

Ashley Goss, KDHE deputy secretary, warned of potentially devastating consequences during the Thursday hearing on the bill.

“Public health ensures that hospitals are practicing good infection control, that children can play, learn, grow and stay healthy, and that when one person gets sick with an old or a new disease, it does not have to spread everywhere. …It would undo hundreds of years of public health work that has helped control the spread of infectious and contagious diseases in our state,” Goss said. 

In a fiscal note on the legislation, KDHE officials said outbreaks such as measles would be much harder to monitor if the bill becomes law.

 Officials outlined the state’s 2018 outbreak of measles, where 22 cases were reported. Without isolation and quarantine measures, an estimated 396 cases would have occurred, and the cost of the public health response to the outbreak would have increased by about $7.1 million, going from an estimated $419,584 to $7.6 million. 

“The agency notes this is just one example of the increased cost of a single outbreak of measles,” reads the fiscal note. “KDHE investigates between 32 to 108 outbreaks per year caused by diseases that are reportable in Kansas or that have isolation and quarantine regulations.” 

Though measles, which is a highly transmissible disease, was largely eradicated in the U.S. by 2000, cases have been resurfacing as a trend of vaccine skepticism continues to grow.

Measles, which is especially dangerous for young children and infants, can affect the lungs and brain and could lead to serious complications. The vaccine, like COVID-19 vaccines, has been proven to be safe and effective despite the claims of vaccination deniers.

Steffen waved aside concerns about measles. 

“It’s there, it’s ever present and it most likely always will be for three reasons,” Steffen said. “Number one, there are unvaccinated people who made their own individual decisions. The measles vaccine is anything but 100% perfect. And number three, think of the millions of unvaccinated illegal aliens pouring across our borders into every nook and cranny of this country.”

His claims are false. U.S. measles outbreaks have been attributed to travel in places where measles is still prevalent, such as parts of Europe, Africa and Asia, not due to illegal immigration. Outbreaks in the U.S usually stem from unvaccinated American travelers who become infected in other countries and spread the measles upon their return, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Steffen also introduced Senate Bill 390 this session, legislation which asserts employers, schools and other entities cannot discriminate or deny services based on a person’s conscience-based refusal of vaccines, among other provisions.