HB 1608-FN - AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
16Feb2022... 0587h
2022 SESSION
22-2362
05/10
HOUSE BILL 1608-FN
AN ACT relative to withdrawal from the state immunization registry.
SPONSORS: Rep. Prout, Hills. 37; Rep. Blasek, Hills. 21; Rep. T. Lekas, Hills. 37; Rep. Lanzara, Hills. 28
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
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AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill requires the department of health and human services to inform the public of the opportunity for individuals to withdraw their Covid-19 vaccination status from the state immunization registry.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
16Feb2022... 0587h 22-2362
05/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Two
AN ACT relative to withdrawal from the state immunization registry.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Legislative Findings.
I. New Hampshire voters passed the Right of Privacy, Article 2-b of the New Hampshire constitution in November 2018, with an 81 percent approval rating. With that vote, state government culture and behavior needed to be shaped by the words, “An individual's right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent."
II. Medical records are some of the most private and personal information, and must only be accessed by consent or extraordinary justification.
III. Even when such extraordinary justification is declared to exist, the intrusion absent consent must be limited to only the absolute minimum necessary to achieve the stated purpose.
IV. When the justification expires, the burden falls on the state to restore, to the maximum extent possible, the circumstances that previously existed to minimize the injury to this natural, essential, and inherent right.
V. The general court finds that the state should not continue to keep the private medical information of individuals that were not afforded the opportunity to choose if they wished it to be collected.
2 Department of Health and Human Services; State Immunization Registry; Notice of Opportunity to Withdraw. Within 120 days of the effective date of this section, the department of health and human services shall execute a public information campaign to inform individuals that data was collected during the COVID-19 state of emergency without the statutorily required opportunity to opt-out, and of the ability for individuals to withdraw from the state immunization registry if they do not wish their private health information to be retained by the state. This public information outreach shall, at a minimum, consist of a press release, postings on the department's social media accounts, and a notice or banner prominently displayed on all websites operated by the department for use by the general public for not less than 60 days. The campaign shall inform the public that "The state of New Hampshire obtained information about your Covid-19 vaccination status without offering you a chance to opt-out of the state immunization registry. Our New Hampshire constitution honors your right to privacy, including your medical information, and you have the right to withdraw your information from the immunization registry. If you withdraw from the registry, the state will not retain a record of your vaccination.” and include a hyperlink to the current form to withdraw from the immunization registry.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
22-2362
Redraft 12/20/21
HB 1608-FN- FISCAL NOTE
AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL IMPACT: [ X ] State [ ] County [ ] Local [ ] None
Estimated Increase / (Decrease)
STATE:
FY 2022
FY 2023
FY 2024
FY 2025
Appropriation
$0
$0
$0
$0
Revenue
$0
$0
$0
$0
Expenditures
$0
$1.3 million - $7 million
$0
$0
Funding Source:
[ X ] General [ ] Education [ ] Highway [ ] Other
METHODOLOGY:
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services, pursuant to emergency order #76, to contact individuals who were not given an opportunity to opt out of having their COVID-19 vaccine information included in the state's vaccine registry. Specifically, the bill requires the Department to contact individuals up to three times before removing their information from the registry in the event of non-response. The Department states there were approximately 790,000 individuals vaccinated prior to the expiration of emergency order #76 on June 11, 2021. The bill does not specify a method of contact; based on an existing contract with a call center, the Department assumes that contacting individuals by phone would be the most expensive method, at an estimated cost of $6.2 million to contact all 790,000 individuals over a six-month period. The Department estimates the cost of mailing a single letter to each individual to be approximately $810,000 ($0.75 per letter or $592,500 for all 790,000 people, plus $210,000 for staffing costs). Alternatively, the Department states that emailing each individual would require hiring a cloud-based marketing vendor, resulting in estimated licensing fees of $95,000 and $250,000 in professional services costs. Finally, the Department states that contacting individuals by text message would cost approximately $30,000 for a six-month contract with a vendor. In recognition of the fact that a combination of these methods may be needed to contact all individuals three times within the time period specified by the bill, the Department projects the bill's cost to be between $1.3 million and $7 million, depending on the methods chosen.
It assumed any fiscal impact will occur in FY 2023.
AGENCIES CONTACTED:
Department of Health and Human Services