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Good morning, CDC family. This is Bharon Hang, the executive director of One Chiropractic and the Chiropractic Defense Council coming to you today, Monday, November 1st for your weekly update. Um, as always, I want to just, I always start off thanking so much all of the groups that have jumped on board to support what we’re doing and to send this information out. We thank you for that. Um, without your channels of communication, it’d be hard to get everybody the information they need. So, um, yeah, this week we took some hits. Um, it hasn’t been a great week for the home team. However, uh, none of it is deterring what we’re doing. So please pay attention very specifically. I’m going to give you very detailed information, um, on this video today of what happened in Illinois, um, what happened in Maine, what we’re doing in Rhode Island, because of what happened in Maine and the Supreme court decision.
So I have a lot of information to kind of share with you as we go through the update this week. Um, the good news, I’m still relatively quiet outside of Illinois and in Maine and Rhode Island. Um, so we’ve had no new complaints, no chiropractors are having any issues. Nobody is being rung up for anything. Um, on any of the other states across the country, no new mandates have been, um, administered anywhere else in the country. So right now it’s just business as usual everywhere else in the world. Um, I’m going to start when the detailed information with what happened in Illinois, um, for those of you that aren’t aware their governor had behind the scenes introduced a piece of legislation that altered or amended to use the right terminology, amended the, um, uh, healthcare conscious act that is, uh, was a law that was very specific to Illinois.
Um, and it really was the safety net, if you will, for all Illinois people, um, to make sure that they have a right to choose, um, that they couldn’t really mandate much because it conflicted with that existing law. So the governor, um, worked his magic, introduced to Senate bill got approved very quickly, went over to the house then back to the Senate because the house made some changes to it, went back over to the Senate. Um, and really at ninth hour, both, I think the house vote was at one in the morning on, um, Thursday or Wednesday night rather. And then Thursday during the day, um, the Senator, I think it was Thursday, excuse me, Thursday night was 1:00 AM vote from the house and then Saturday or a Friday, the Senate voted through, um, because they were at the end of their session. So it was all last minute rammed through.
Um, essentially that amendment said for the purposes of COVID-19 that the healthcare conscious act would not apply. Um, basically that safety net for people to say, we’re just not going to comply with the mandate because it conflicts with that law. It was a big deal. Um, it gave some authority to the mayor or governor that really shouldn’t have happened. Um, it was really disgusting how this process went through. It showed you kind of the frustration that we have with our political system, um, when it was going to the house for the house to vote, that I think we had 52,000 people, um, that had opposed this. They only had like six, 700 up, uh, proponents, meaning they supported it. It was just a disgusting display of control. And behind the scenes deals, I’m very excited. I do want to do a shout out to Beth clay at the ICA.
Um, we communicated regularly through those days on what she was hearing, what we were hearing, doing our best to, to really represent our people as well as possible. Our lobbying firm actually flew someone into Illinois. Um, and we had someone on the ground meeting, um, with individuals having conversations, both in the house and in the Senate, uh, making calls to the governor’s office, doing our best to kind of stall that process. Um, let time run out so that it didn’t happen. But at the end of the day, the governor got what he wanted and it did pass. Um, they had the super majority in the Senate and it just, it just passed. We couldn’t get enough people to flip. So here’s the bad news is that that went through. Now. It doesn’t take effect until June of 2022. So we have a significant period of time, which is even funnier about that piece of legislation to begin with.
And it was such an emergency to get this done. Why is it not taking effect until June, because who knows where we’re going to be at in June of 2022, if there’s even going to be mandates in place at that time. Um, so again, we could go down the rabbit hole of the most frustrating things that happen in our world, and this would be one of them. Um, but here’s the good news, the good news in Illinois as you still, this, that amendment did not take away the ability to do religious exemption. Um, it did not take away the first amendment rights. Um, we still have the same process that we have working and other states that did not have the healthcare conscious act is what we’re going to do in, um, Illinois. So all is not lost with this. It was just a, just an egregious act by your governor.
We did everything we could. I was on the phone all day long, having conversations with our lobbying team, as I said, they flew in and we were having conversations, working in conjunction with Beth clay at the ICA and their, uh, contacts that they had with Illinois legislature. Um, so it was, you know, I’m, I’m proud of the work that was done. Unfortunately, we didn’t produce the outcome we wanted, but that wasn’t, uh, you know, a zero sum game. Um, we, we know that we can still provide the freedom that we need to provide to our doctors in Illinois. Again, this does not, nothing changes until June of 2022. Um, I will tell you this as well, we’re talking to other groups they’re already proposing, um, legit litigation to go against how this process went, how they can’t make that amendment to that bill that way, without having proper testimony and so on and so forth.
So it is going to be legally challenged. We are keeping an eye on that. We will support that if it makes sense for us to do so, if there’s a viable argument and a path where that makes sense, we’ll jump in and make sure we’re a part of that as well. So, uh, all is not lost in Illinois, although that was a frustrating process to watch, uh, that them just blatantly ignore, um, the, the voice of Illinois people. So it was a unfortunate, so that’s what happened in Illinois. Um, now I’ll move to Maine, um, and Rhode Island, uh, if you weren’t aware of Maine had a similar lawsuit that had went through, um, ensuring that the first amendment was upheld in the state and ensuring that, uh, um, religious exemptions were allowed, um, it kept getting denied, um, injunctions, and it was denied throughout the different levels of the court throughout Maine.
So it made it to the U S Supreme court. Um, essentially the U S Supreme court denied the injunction. Um, but they didn’t deny it on merit. They denied it essentially because we had to have our conservative justices say, there just wasn’t enough time that this was submitted as an emergency order because of the broad sweeping impact of that particular ruling. They weren’t willing to do it without proper testimony, proper vetting. So we had, we had three, uh, Supreme justices that agreed with us. We had two that refrain stating there wasn’t enough time. They didn’t disagree with our merit. They just felt like because of the impact, they needed more information. And then you also had for that, um, just adamantly were against, we thought we would win at five to four, um, pretty much on party lines. Um, but we did have two of our justices that just wouldn’t rule on it until it had a proper hearing.
Here’s the other good part about that case though? Even the four that denied it, they gave zero reasons. They just said, no, they did not give any communication. They did not. There was nothing that our opponents can use to stop us when we resubmit. That’s actually good news. Um, it means that they didn’t need, or they didn’t have an argument at that point. So typically when we lose these types of things, the justices will give very strong opinions as to why they voted the way they voted. And then that becomes precedent. That becomes information that could be admitted into a case in the future. So the fact that they said no, but they gave zero reasons why that actually helps us when we go forward and do this again, which is what we’re going to end up doing in Rhode Island. It also helps us with the two Supreme justices that made the statement that they’re voting.
No, but it’s not on the merit. It’s because they haven’t had enough information. We’re very confident that when the information is presented appropriately, that they will with us. And of course we’ll maintain the three that had already ruled that this should be upheld. So, so again, it was a frustrating case. All it does is kick the can down the road. However, it was not, again, it was not a zero sum game there either. Um, that gave us a lot of information to be able to go forward. So we are going to be doing the exact same process in Rhode Island. We’re going to start that process immediately in Maine. They are refiling now, no longer under the emergency so that it has the time to go through the merit. Um, we’re not sure how quickly the Supreme court will pick that up, but that case has already been administered and filed in Maine to follow that up.
And we are going to be doing the same thing in Rhode Island. Um, so again, not optimal. Um, both of those situations that would have, I would have loved to come out with a win. Um, our attorneys are working hard on this, where they’re not beating us. They’re just punting it a little bit. So I need you to hold out hope. I don’t want you to see either one of those cases as massively negative things to our argument. I told you in the beginning that this was going to be a process, um, for those of you that are continuing to practice, I’m proud of you. Um, you’re doing the right thing. In my honest opinion, we’re here to support you. We’ve had, we have not had anyone reach out to us. Again. We have had one individual where the department of health has called and just leaving messages.
We’re working with our attorney on that, giving advice on how that provider should handle that process. But again, nobody has really showed up. No one’s done anything, um, to really go after any of these doctors. So we’re going to continue to fight. Um, honestly, even though these frustrating things happen, they’re not really taking out our, our angles. We’re actually learning more information by them, which has given us more confidence as we continue to push forward, what’s going to happen. So again, the ultimate good news of this week is that we have not had any new mandates. We have not had any chiropractor come into any conflict or issues. Um, those are great signs that that’s basically supporting our original opinion, that this was going to be a lot of, uh, fear-mongering a lot of propaganda with not a lot of substance. And that’s kind of what we’re seeing so far.
Um, but we’re prepared. Should there be some substance, should there be some enforcement we will be there to support and help you. So that’s what we’re doing in the U S um, we’re going to continue to work on this stuff as we have more information, um, we will continue to communicate it. Thank you for those of you that responded to our emergency email. We put out for Illinois going and submitting the testimony slips again, for us to have over 50,000 slips filled out within less than 12 hours. It was pretty amazing. And that wasn’t just our doing, there was a number of groups that were doing it. Um, but I was proud that our people represented and, and jumped in on that as well. So we’re continuing to work together again. I was very happy to work with Beth and the ICA and work together, trying to achieve something, um, appropriate for our profession.
And that was our vision to begin with. So yes, we took some hits this week, um, but it didn’t knock us down. We’re still, we’re, it’s another round. We’re going to continue to fight. Our resolve is getting stronger. Our contributor base is getting stronger. We’re now over 2100 contributors. Um, so I’m very, very blessed that people are continuing to come on board. I need you to keep spreading the word. I need you to keep you getting your other colleagues, right? Our goal is to be at 5,000 by the end of the year. So we’ve got just two months left. So I need you to keep spreading it. You can see the work that we’re doing, our response time, we’re fighting. We’re going to continue to do the work that needs to be done, but we need to continue to build our tribe. So I’m asking you to send people to defend chiropractic.org, let them know about what we’re doing forward these videos.
So they know that tactical work that we’re doing and how we’re communicating this information, let them know every Monday, they’re going to know what’s going on. And if it’s, if you’re watching this from another state and you’re like, well, you’ve even said, there are no new mandates. This isn’t about an individual state. This is about our profession as a whole. So if some of these states fall and they uphold, you can expect more mandates coming in the new year because these other politicians didn’t get railroaded. Like we expect them to be railroaded. And so it’s going to give confidence to other governors to be doing the same thing. So there’s a lot of watch and waiting. Um, we have to win in these states that have drawn the line. So we need you guys to be a part of what we’re doing, spread the word, spread the word, help us get to that 5,000 by the end of the year, so that we have the confidence to continue to take on these cases and to fight.
So we love you. Um, this week we’re going to keep digging and working. We’ll let you know what’s happening in Rhode Island, as things, uh, develop. Uh, if you guys hear anything, please send them to me. Um, we’ll make sure that we vet everything we possibly can. We love you. We appreciate it. This week’s going to be a great week. It’s going to be a great week because we’re entering in the holiday season. The holiday season is a phenomenal opportunity to tell the story of chiropractic. So we want you to not worry about all of this chaos. That’s where we’re living. You need to live in knowing the truth of chiropractic and sharing that message with everybody you come in contact with because when we actually succeed at telling the story of chiropractic, that’s ultimately how we change the world. So we love you. We appreciate you keep telling the story and we’ll be back at you next Monday. God bless.