A.G. File No. 2007-056

Identification Device Protection Act

November 06, 2007

 


Ban on Mandatory Implants for Humans or Animals. Under this proposed measure, the State Constitution would be changed to specify that no governmental or private entities could make or enforce any law or ordinance that mandates the subcutaneous implantation of any type of device or ink in any human or animal. The measure would also prohibit anyone from being denied employment, education, medical services, health plan membership, certification, or licensure for refusing to have such a device implanted. This measure does not prohibit the voluntary use of such devices by government agencies or private parties. In effect, this measure would place in the State Constitution a prohibition on the involuntary use of subcutaneous implants in humans similar to the one that will become law under Chapter 538. Enactment of these provisions in the Constitution means that they could only be changed in the future with the ratification of the voters. This measure also changes state law by extending the ban on subcutaneous RFIDs to animals. Existing local mandates that dogs or cats be implanted by RFID microchips would no longer be legally enforceable should this initiative be enacted. Also, the state would be precluded in the future from requiring the implantation of livestock or poultry with such devices as a means to prevent or mitigate the outbreak of diseases in animals that could also affect the health of the public. The constitutional prohibition on placing microchips in animals also could be changed in the future only with the consent of the voters.