Department backs laws on recording, vaping, more

Can customers vape in restaurants? What’s an acceptable lead contamination level in a child’s blood? Should people be able to record video in public health department lobbies? Those questions and more are headed for discussion during the legislative session going on through spring.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 160 bills that touch on public health are under consideration in the state Legislature, say Georgia Department of Public Health officials, and more are expected. The DPH under the Kemp administration is working on four bills of its own that it wants legislators to support.

Here they are, as outlined this week by Megan Andrews, the department’s lobbyist:

Filming

DPH hopes a member of the House of Representatives will soon introduce a bill that would make it illegal to film in the waiting areas of public health buildings. A spokeswoman for the DPH said in an email that because its buildings are public DPH found it couldn’t stop people recording, “even when it came with disruptive behavior that impacted operations, affected other people in the lobby areas and in some cases became an issue of health privacy.”

However, visual images at public health facilities have also played a role in exposing problems, for example depicting long waits for COVID-19 vaccinations and tests. The DPH spokeswoman, Nancy Nydam, said such a law would not affect journalists’ work because “for the most part they work with (DPH officials) on video requests” and are better versed in legal privacy rights.

Vaping

Since Georgia’s law against smoking in restaurants and other venues went into effect before e-cigarettes, DPH wants the Legislature to clarify that it means to prohibit smoke not just from cigarettes but from vaping, too. Vaping is usually different from cigarettes, containing no tobacco tar but much higher levels of nicotine.

Lead poisoning

Georgia law currently is out of line with national standards when it comes to allowable blood lead levels in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says if a child’s blood has 3.5 or more micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, that warrants a public health intervention. Georgia law says intervention is warranted only at 10 or more micrograms, and DPH wants Georgia law to be in line with the CDC guidance. In a study committee, DPH reported that low levels of lead in children can cause declines in IQ, hyperactivity and social withdrawal.

EMS worker fingerprints

When DPH takes the fingerprints of new people licensed to work in emergency medical services, under legislation DPH is asking for (Senate Bill 404), a national program called “Rap Back” would allow the GBI to keep those fingerprints and monitor them over time for public safety alerts.

AP FILE Officials with the Department of Public Health hope the Legislature will clarify laws that restrict smoking in public venues to include vaping.