A New York Democrat on Sunday defended a controversial bill that could allow the state governor to “order the removal” or detention of an individual deemed to be a suspected case, contact, or carrier of a “contagious disease” if they “pose an imminent and significant threat to the public health.” Assemblyman Nick Perry, sponsor of Bill A416 that could see individuals detained “by a single order … in a medical facility or other appropriate facility,” pushed back against backlash that the legislation would violate Americans’ constitutional rights, according to a statement. The bill (pdf) is scheduled to be taken up on Wednesday by the assembly’s health committee, and states that it may be used in the event that the governor declares a state of health emergency “due to an epidemic of any communicable disease.” It requires the state governor or his or her delegee “to apply for a court order authorizing a detention within …