DHPPA

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3660 To prohibit Federal funds from being used to implement, administer, enforce, or carry out programs with respect to digital health passes, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 1, 2021 Mr. GAETZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To prohibit Federal funds from being used to implement, administer, enforce, or carry out programs with respect to digital health passes, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Health Pass 4 Prevention Act’’ or ‘‘DHPPA’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 The Congress finds the following: 7 (1) In the United States, States hold primary 8 public health powers. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3660.IH H3660 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3660 IH (2) On April 2, 2021, Florida Governor Ron 1 DeSantis signed an Executive order prohibiting the 2 use of COVID–19 digital health passes in the State 3 of Florida, citing privacy concerns and freedom as 4 the main reasons for the prohibition. 5 (3) On April 5, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Ab- 6 bott signed an Executive order prohibiting the use of 7 COVID–19 digital health passes, declaring that 8 Texas agencies and political subdivisions, as well as 9 public and private organizations that receive public 10 funding from the State, cannot require people to 11 prove they have received a vaccination for the virus 12 that causes COVID–19. 13 (4) On April 7, 2021, Idaho Governor Brad 14 Little signed an Executive order prohibiting any 15 State of Idaho governmental entity from requiring 16 an individual to provide a digital health pass, or 17 other proof of a vaccination for the virus that causes 18 COVID–19, before such individual may receive pub- 19 lic services or access to public facilities. 20 (5) On April 13, 2021, Montana Governor Greg 21 Gianforte issued an Executive order prohibiting the 22 use of digital health passes. 23 (6) On April 19, 2021, Arizona Governor Doug 24 Ducey issued an Executive order to prohibit all 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3660.IH H3660 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3660 IH State and local government entities from requiring 1 individuals to prove whether they have received a 2 vaccination for the virus that causes COVID–19 3 prior to receiving services or entering into certain 4 public areas. 5 (7) On April 25, 2021, Georgia Governor Brian 6 Kemp issued an Executive order that prohibits the 7 State of Georgia from requiring COVID–19 digital 8 health passes. 9 (8) On May 11, 2021, South Carolina Governor 10 Henry McMaster issued a COVID–19 mandate that 11 prohibits the use of digital health passes across the 12 State of South Carolina and prevents schools and 13 public entities from implementing mask require- 14 ments. 15 (9) On May 24, 2021, Alabama Governor Kay 16 Ivey signed a bill that prevents State entities from 17 issuing digital health passes and prohibits businesses 18 from requiring a digital health pass in exchange for 19 services. 20 (10) The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution 21 requires that, ‘‘The powers not delegated to the 22 United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by 23 it to the States, are reserved to the States respec- 24 tively, or to the people’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3660.IH H3660 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3660 IH (11) The Federal Government may not bear the 1 responsibility of administrating mandatory programs 2 and subsequent devices as they relate to the health 3 of citizens. 4 (12) International Business Machines Corpora- 5 tion (IBM), a leading information technology com- 6 pany, is leading the development of digital health 7 passes, and has developed the ‘‘Excelsior Pass’’ as a 8 means for commercial enterprises to exclude individ- 9 uals who do not have such pass from attending pub- 10 licly accessible events. 11 (13) As of June 1, 2021, IBM has over 12 350,000 employees, a market cap of $129 billion, 13 and does not require any amount of Federal tax dol- 14 lars from the fiscal year 2022 budget to assist IBM 15 with activities related to the development of digital 16 health passes. 17 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING OF PROGRAMS WITH 18 RESPECT TO DIGITAL HEALTH PASSES. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 20 sion of law, no Federal funds may be used to implement, 21 administer, enforce, or carry out programs with respect 22 to digital health passes. 23 (b) DIGITAL HEALTH PASS DEFINED.—The term 24 ‘‘digital health pass’’ means any standardized documenta- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3660.IH H3660 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3660 IH tion for the purpose of certifying an individual’s vaccina- 1 tion history to a third party, excluding any documentation 2 to the extent it is issued for the purpose of health care 3 records. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3660.IH H3660 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS