I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6054 
To modernize laws and policies, and eliminate discrimination, with respect 
to people living with HIV/AIDS, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 2, 2020 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. 
CICILLINE, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. 
SWALWELL of California, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. 
NADLER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. KILMER, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. JOHNSON 
of Georgia, Ms. MOORE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, 
Mr. CRIST, Mr. POCAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. 
NORTON, Ms. BASS, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 
Ms. MENG, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Armed 
Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To modernize laws and policies, and eliminate discrimination, 
with respect to people living with HIV/AIDS, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repeal Existing Poli-
cies that Encourage and Allow Legal HIV Discrimination 
Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act 
of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) At present, 34 States and 2 United States 
territories have criminal statutes based on perceived 
exposure to HIV, rather than behaviors motivated by 
an intent to harm, presenting a significant risk of 
transmission and resulting in actual transmission of 
HIV to another. Eleven States have HIV-specific 
laws that make spitting or biting a felony, even 
though it is not possible to transmit HIV via saliva. 
Twenty-four States require persons who are aware 
that they have HIV to disclose their status to sexual 
partners, regardless of whether they are non-infec-
tious. Fourteen of these 24 States also require dis-
closure to needle-sharing partners. Twenty-five 
States criminalize one or more behaviors that pose 
a low or negligible risk for HIV transmission. 
(2) HIV-specific criminal laws are classified as 
felonies in 28 States; in three States, a person’s ex-
posure to another to HIV does not subject the per-
son to criminal prosecution for that act alone, but 
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may result in a sentence enhancement. Eighteen 
States impose sentences of up to 10 years per viola-
tion; seven impose sentences between 11 and 20 
years; and five impose sentences of greater than 20 
years. 
(3) When members of the Armed Forces ac-
quire HIV, they are issued orders that require them 
to disclose and use a condom under all cir-
cumstances including when the known risk of trans-
mission is zero. Failure to disclose can result in 
prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Jus-
tice (UCMJ). 
(4) The number of prosecutions, arrests, and 
instances where HIV-based charges are used to in-
duce plea agreements is unknown. Because State- 
level prosecution and arrest data are not readily 
available in any national legal database, the societal 
impact of these laws may be underestimated and 
most cases that go to trial are not reduced to writ-
ten, published opinions. 
(5) State and Federal criminal law does not 
currently reflect the three decades of medical ad-
vances and discoveries made with regard to trans-
mission and treatment of HIV/AIDS. 
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(6) According to CDC, correct and consistent 
male or female condom use is very effective in pre-
venting HIV transmission. However, most State 
HIV-specific laws and prosecutions do not treat the 
use of a condom during sexual intercourse as a miti-
gating factor or evidence that the defendant did not 
intend to transmit HIV. 
(7) Criminal laws and prosecutions do not take 
into account the benefits of effective antiretroviral 
medications, which suppress the virus to extremely 
low levels and further reduce the already low risk of 
transmitting HIV to near zero. 
(8) In addition to HIV-specific criminal laws, 
general criminal laws are often misused to prosecute 
people based on their HIV status. Although HIV, 
and even AIDS, currently is viewed as a treatable, 
chronic, medical condition, people living with HIV 
have been charged under aggravated assault, at-
tempted murder, and even bioterrorism statutes be-
cause prosecutors, courts, and legislators continue to 
view and characterize the blood, semen, and saliva of 
people living with HIV as a ‘‘deadly weapon’’. 
(9) Multiple peer-reviewed studies demonstrate 
that HIV-specific laws do not reduce risk-taking be-
havior or increase disclosure by people living with or 
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at risk of HIV, and there is increasing evidence that 
these laws reduce the willingness to get tested. Fur-
thermore, placing legal responsibility for preventing 
the transmission of HIV and other pathogens that 
can be sexually transmitted exclusively on people di-
agnosed with a sexually transmitted infection under-
mines the public health message that all people are 
responsible for practicing behaviors that protect 
themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted 
infections. Unfortunately, some State laws create an 
expectation of disclosure work against public health 
communication and discourage risk-reduction meas-
ures that could prevent transmission as a result of 
those who are acutely infected and unaware of their 
status. 
(10) The identity of an individual subject to an 
HIV-based prosecution is broadcast through media 
reports, potentially destroying employment opportu-
nities and relationships and violating the person’s 
right to privacy. 
(11) Individuals who are convicted after an 
HIV-based prosecution often must register as sex of-
fenders even in cases involving consensual sexual ac-
tivity. Their employability is destroyed, and their 
family relationships are fractured. 
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(12) The United Nations, including the Joint 
United 
Nations 
Programme 
on 
HIV/AIDS 
(UNAIDS), urges governments to ‘‘limit criminaliza-
tion to cases of intentional transmission.’’ This re-
quirement would limit prosecutions to situations 
‘‘where a person knows his or her HIV-positive sta-
tus, acts with the intention to transmit HIV, and 
does in fact transmit it’’. UNAIDS also recommends 
that criminal law should not be applied to cases 
where there is no significant risk of transmission. 
(13) In 2010, the Federal Government released 
the first ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), 
which addressed HIV-specific criminal laws, stating: 
‘‘While we understand the intent behind these laws, 
they may not have the desired effect and they may 
make people less willing to disclose their status by 
making people feel at even greater risk of discrimi-
nation. In some cases, it may be appropriate for leg-
islators to reconsider whether existing laws continue 
to further the public interest and public health. In 
many instances, the continued existence and enforce-
ment of these types of laws run counter to scientific 
evidence about routes of HIV transmission and may 
undermine the public health goals of promoting HIV 
screening and treatment.’’. The NHAS also states 
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that State legislatures should consider reviewing 
HIV-specific criminal statutes to ensure that they 
are consistent with current knowledge of HIV trans-
mission and support public health approaches to pre-
venting and treating HIV. 
(14) The Global Commission on HIV and the 
Law was launched in June 2010 to examine laws 
and practices that criminalize people living with and 
vulnerable to HIV and to develop evidence-based rec-
ommendations for effective HIV responses. The 
Commission calls for ‘‘governments, civil society and 
international bodies to repeal punitive laws and 
enact laws that facilitate and enable effective re-
sponses to HIV prevention, care and treatment serv-
ices for all who need them’’. The Commission rec-
ommends against the enactment of ‘‘laws that ex-
plicitly criminalize HIV transmission, exposure or 
non-disclosure of HIV status, which are counter-
productive’’. 
(15) In February 2019, the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) launched ‘‘End-
ing the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America,’’ a new 
initiative with an ambitious goal to end the domestic 
HIV epidemic in ten years by reducing new cases of 
HIV by 75 percent by 2025 and by 90 percent by 
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2030. In this plan, HHS notes that stigma ‘‘can be 
a debilitating barrier preventing people living with, 
or at risk for, HIV from receiving the health care, 
services, and respect they need and deserve.’’ Many 
of the States and jurisdictions identified as a pri-
ority for the first five years of the plan have stigma- 
based criminal statutes for perceived exposure to 
HIV. These statutes run counter to the goals of this 
new initiative and stand in the way of ending the do-
mestic HIV epidemic. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING LAWS OR REGU-
LATIONS DIRECTED AT PEOPLE LIVING WITH 
HIV. 
It is the sense of Congress that Federal and State 
laws, policies, and regulations regarding people living with 
HIV— 
(1) should not place unique or additional bur-
dens on such individuals solely as a result of their 
HIV status; and 
(2) should instead demonstrate a public health- 
oriented, evidence-based, medically accurate, and 
contemporary understanding of— 
(A) the multiple factors that lead to HIV 
transmission; 
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(B) the relative risk of demonstrated HIV 
transmission routes; 
(C) the current health implications of liv-
ing with HIV; 
(D) the associated benefits of treatment 
and support services for people living with HIV; 
and 
(E) the impact of punitive HIV-specific 
laws, policies, regulations, and judicial prece-
dents and decisions on public health, on people 
living with or affected by HIV, and on their 
families and communities. 
SEC. 4. REVIEW OF FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS. 
(a) REVIEW OF FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 
General, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices, and the Secretary of Defense acting jointly (in 
this section referred to as the ‘‘designated officials’’) 
shall initiate a national review of Federal and State 
laws, policies, regulations, and judicial precedents 
and decisions regarding criminal and related civil 
commitment cases involving people living with HIV/ 
AIDS, including in regard to the Uniform Code of 
Military Justice (UCMJ). 
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(2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the re-
view under paragraph (1), the designated officials 
shall seek to include diverse participation from, and 
consultation with, each of the following: 
(A) Each State. 
(B) State attorneys general (or their rep-
resentatives). 
(C) State public health officials (or their 
representatives). 
(D) State judicial and court system offi-
cers, including judges, district attorneys, pros-
ecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, 
and correctional officers. 
(E) Members of the United States Armed 
Forces, including members of other Federal 
services subject to the UCMJ. 
(F) People living with HIV/AIDS, particu-
larly those who have been subject to HIV-re-
lated prosecution or who are from minority 
communities whose members have been dis-
proportionately subject to HIV-specific arrests 
and prosecution. 
(G) Legal advocacy and HIV/AIDS service 
organizations that work with people living with 
HIV/AIDS. 
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