Kissing the Bill of Rights goodbye?

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 17 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 2A, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 2A. (a) Upon declaration by the governor that an emergency exists which is detrimental to the public health or upon declaration of a state of emergency under chapter 639 of the acts of 1950, as amended, the commissioner may, during such period of emergency, take such action and incur such liabilities as he or she may consider necessary to assure the maintenance of public health and the prevention of disease. The commissioner may establish procedures to be followed during such emergency to ensure the continuation of essential public health services and the enforcement of the same.

In circumstances where the governor declares that the emergency detrimental to public health is limited to a specified local area, the appropriate local public health authority, as defined in section 1 of chapter 111, may, with the approval of the commissioner, during such period of emergency, take such action and incur such liabilities as it may deem necessary to assure the maintenance of public health and the prevention of disease...

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(1) to require the owner or occupier of premises to permit entry into and investigation of the premises;

(2) to close, direct, and compel the evacuation of, or to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated any building or facility, and to allow the reopening of the building or facility when the danger has ended;

(3) to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated, or to destroy any material;

(4) to restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons;

(5) to require a health care facility to provide services or the use of its facility, or to transfer the management and supervision of the health care facility to the department or to a local public health authority;

(6) to control ingress to and egress from any stricken or threatened public area, and the movement of persons and materials within the area;...