Pennsylvania Senate Passes Vaccine Passport Ban, Governor Says He’ll Probably Veto

This is actually a good lesson in Government over-reach, refusal to give up power, and the law of unintended consequences

Gov. Wolf says he’ll veto just-passed anti-vaccine passport bill, “probably a little far”

unintended consequencesAn amendment to legislation that would prohibit “vaccine passports” in Pennsylvania is “probably a little far” and will cause him to veto it, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said Wednesday.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 29-20 Wednesday afternoon in favor of a bill, sponsored by State Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York County), to prohibit “vaccine passports” in Pennsylvania. The bill alone seemed unlikely to cause a veto threat: “Vaccine passports” — in other words, standardized proof of vaccination status that could be required to enter some places and attend some large gatherings — have generally been a political nonstarter in America overall, a popular concept among some Democrats but a battle President Joe Biden and others have concluded they won’t win and isn’t worth fighting.

Governor Wolf’s objection to the legislation?

An amendment offered by State Sen. Judy Ward (R-Blair County), whose district includes part of Cumberland County, and included in the final bill which would stop Pennsylvania’s secretary of health from requiring face masks, imposing travel restrictions, requiring social distancing and ordering private businesses to close. It would also stop publicly-funded colleges and universities from requiring students and faculty to be vaccinated.

“As I understand it, the health secretary would be prohibited from telling anybody they ought to wash their hands,” Wolf said. “I think that’s probably a little far.”

Legislators do this all the time. Have something simple, then complicate it with all sorts of other things. They just can’t keep it simple and targeted. The point here was to ban vaccine passports. That would have been accomplished, Wolf would have signed it. But, then the Senate added on the other stuff, which seemed like a good idea at the time, right? But, previous legislation ended up giving the health secretary all that extra power to do things that really shouldn’t be able to do, probably unintentionally in some legislation that was overblown and bloated. Any powers like that should be temporary as voted on per incident by the legislative branch. But, they weren’t, and the Executive Branch doesn’t want to give up it’s power, even if it was given unintentionally.

This also shows the danger of vaccine passports. It really should have been a simple, innocuous idea, something basic to get back to normal, something to show that you’ve had the vaccine or the antibodies from having had COVID19. But, due to the vast overreach and authoritarian policies of so many governments, along with a serious concern that government will mission creep, just like they do with legislation (see above), people became dead set against them. Same thing with some sort of pin, which would have helped alleviate many people’s concerns. Let’s not forget this tidbit I noted the other day on NY’s passport

(NY Times) But newly obtained documents show that the state may have larger plans for the app and that the cost to taxpayers may be much higher than originally stated.

The state’s three-year contract with I.B.M. — obtained by an advocacy group and shared with The New York Times — to develop and run the pass establishes the groundwork for a future where at least 10 million people in the state would have an Excelsior Pass. It would provide them with a QR code that would not only verify their vaccination status but could also include other personal details like proof of age, driver’s license and other health records. (snip)

But Eric Piscini, the vice president of emerging business networks at I.B.M., said in a recent interview that the state was considering broader uses. He said discussions were underway to expand the pass into a broader digital wallet that could store driver’s license information, other health information and more. He also said that other states and foreign governments were exploring ways to integrate the Excelsior Pass into their own verification systems, as New York seeks to include records from other states in its system.

Instead of just having your vaccination status, it will contain much more information. And then it will start carrying even more. That’s a serious concern.

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8 Responses to “Pennsylvania Senate Passes Vaccine Passport Ban, Governor Says He’ll Probably Veto”

  1. Hairy says:

    Teach
    Weren’t you required to have smallpox vax before school?
    I was
    Also it was mandatory forcforeugn travel

    • gitarcarver says:

      Weren’t you required to have smallpox vax before school?

      Yes. And the state was allowed to do that because the state forces people to attend school.

      Here, the “passport” would be used to deny people the Constitutional right to travel in and between states, as well as limit access to the government. Both are rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

      In addition you have 14th Amendment issues with equal treatment for citizens.

      Of course Hairy doesn’t realize the fallacy of his own argument because people don’t have to carry around card proving they have been vaccinated for smallpox.

      Hairy hates the Constitution and the rights enumerated within.

      I was

      You probably don’t realize this since you are getting pizza rolls from your mother while living in her basement, but the Social Security cards of old have a specific warning on them that the cards and the Social Security numbers can only be used as an identifier when dealing with the SSA. No other Federal agency, state agency, or private government could ask for the number.

      Governments overruled that part of the Social Security agreement.

      As Teach notes, this is a “camel’s nose under the tent” type thing.

      Clearly Hairy likes anything that steps on the rights of people, or denies them freedoms – economic or otherwise. Why? Because Hairy hates the US and hates freedoms.

      After all, all the left has is hate.

      • Elwood P. Dowd says:

        Smallpox has been driven from the face of the Earth by the global vaccination program. (NB- two labs still have repositories of the variola virus). Few people receive the smallpox vaccine today.

        nuCons prefer anarchy! Stop signs, public schools, smallpox and polio vaccines, income taxes, state roads, clean air, clean water, controls on pollutant emissions, Social Security, Medicare, public airports are all signs of the American communist apocalypse. How tedious.

        FREEDOM! to a nuCon necessitates children spreading and dying from smallpox, polio, whooping cough, measles, hepatitis and of course, gunshots. But to an anarchist nuCon, that’s the law of jungle, weeding out the weak and sickly, the way the gods intended. As we protect the weak, their genes get passed on, right?

        But good for the anarchist nuCons who refused the Covid vaccines as violations of the personal freedoms. How many regular commenters here rejected the effrontery of the gov’t sponsored vaccines?

        This is an ongoing disagreement between anarchist nuCons and Americans who understand the value of community. Does the state have any obligation to help protect the health of the general public or is that un-Constitutional? Things like regulate known carcinogens (e.g., tobacco), addictive drugs, pollutants, communicable diseases, pharmaceuticals, guns etc?

        But after all, all the right has is hate.

        • gitarcarver says:

          In displaying his hatred, Elwood makes at least two mistakes.

          First, the issue is whether a state could issue a “passport” of sorts that would restrict peoples’ access to things such as government redress, government services, travel across state lines, etc. The Constitution says states cannot. While Elwood is trying to make this about the vaccine itself, that’s not the issue.

          Secondly, another mistake he makes is that Elwood constantly rails about how wrong it is for minorities to be told what is in their best interests and how insulting it is for people to do just that. Here, while minorities are choosing not to be vaccinated (for whatever reasons,) Elwood hates his own ideas and comments so much that now he wants the government and elected officials to tell minorities what to do. This is either because of Elwood’s blatant hypocrisy, or his hateful belief that minorities are simply children and others know what is best for them.

          Once again, we see how the hate flows from the left.

          After all, hate is all the left has

          • drowningpuppies says:

            This is either because of Elwood’s blatant hypocrisy, or his hateful belief that minorities are simply children and others know what is best for them.

            Or maybe because he’s a simpleton dipshit who hasn’t a clue about what he writes.

            #BelieveTheLie
            Bwaha! Lolgf https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            After all, all gitarcarver has is hate. And dishonesty.

            He lies once again about minority Americans. But after all, all the right has is hate.

  2. tina says:

    It is an experimental drug, not a vaccine. America has absolutely no place for communism. Your state imposters have shown their true colors. What else have they done ?

  3. drowningpuppies says:

    Well it is the weekend and has been pointed out before the CDC does not work weekends.

    And it’s only 475 cases…

    https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/557944-cdc-to-hold-emergency-meeting-on-heart-inflammation-after-covid-19-vaccines

    #TheScienceIsSettled
    Bwaha! Lolgf https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

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