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Senate committee approves bill creating a privacy right for COVID‑19 vaccination status

PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE · October 1, 2021
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Public Health committee advanced SB 7‑31, which would create a statutory privacy right for COVID‑19 vaccination status and a private right of action for retaliation; the Department of Health raised operational and federal‑funding concerns.

Senator Ballinger told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that SB 7‑31 would create a right of privacy for a person’s COVID‑19 vaccination status and allow damages for retaliation similar to those available under the Arkansas Civil Rights Act. "This just creates a right of privacy for citizens that'll be recognized," Ballinger said, and added he was running the bill only as a fallback in case a separate compromise bill did not secure the emergency clause he prefers.

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