I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3053 
To eliminate discrimination in the law for those who have tested positive 
for HIV, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 23, 2011 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. 
COHEN, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. CLARKE of Michigan, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. 
RANGEL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. GRI-
JALVA, and Mr. QUIGLEY) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Commit-
tees 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 jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To eliminate discrimination in the law for those who have 
tested positive for HIV, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repeal Existing Poli-
cies that Encourage and Allow Legal HIV Discrimination 
Act’’, the ‘‘REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act’’, or the 
‘‘REPEAL Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) HIV AND HIV/AIDS.—The terms ‘‘HIV’’ and 
‘‘HIV/AIDS’’ have the meanings given to such terms in 
section 2689 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
300ff–88). 
(b) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the District 
of Columbia, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the 
United States Virgin Islands. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) At present, 34 States and 2 U.S. territories 
have criminal statutes based on ‘‘exposure’’ to HIV. 
Most of these laws were adopted before the avail-
ability of effective antiretroviral treatment for HIV/ 
AIDS. 
(2) According to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention (CDC), HIV cannot reproduce 
outside the human body. HIV is not spread by air 
or water, insects, saliva, tears, sweat, casual contact 
(like shaking hands or sharing dishes), or kissing. 
(3) HIV is primarily transmitted between per-
sons neither of whom is aware that one is infected 
with HIV. Epidemiologically important routes of 
transmission are unprotected vaginal or anal sexual 
contact. HIV can also be transmitted via some types 
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of oral sex and also via blood transfusions, although 
transmission via these routes is not common in the 
United States. 
(4) Prosecutions for ‘‘exposure’’, nondisclosure, 
and/or transmission of HIV have occurred in at least 
39 States under general assault or homicide laws 
and/or HIV-specific laws. 
(5) The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS 
Emergency Act of 1990 (CARE Act) mandated that 
States prove the adequacy of their laws for criminal 
prosecution of ‘‘intentional transmission’’ of HIV be-
fore they could receive Federal funding for HIV/ 
AIDS prevention. 
(6) By 1993, approximately half the States had 
HIV-specific criminal legislation. Most of these fel-
ony laws do not require that HIV transmission actu-
ally occur for a person to be charged and convicted. 
Being unaware of one’s HIV status is the primary 
defense to prosecution under State criminal laws, be-
cause almost all statutes that criminalize exposure to 
HIV do so only if the accused individual, prior to 
the time of exposure, has been tested and informed 
that he or she is infected with HIV. 
(7) Over the past 3 decades, scientists have 
learned much about HIV, its transmission, and the 
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treatment of those who become infected with it. 
State and Federal law does not currently reflect the 
medical advances and discoveries made with regards 
to HIV/AIDS. 
(8) Many people living with HIV have been 
given sentences of 10 to 30 years even in the ab-
sence of HIV transmission, despite CDC acknowl-
edgment and other scientific resources concluding 
that intentional HIV transmission is rare. 
(9) In most States, any sexual exposure—re-
gardless of whether protection is used, if there is no 
deliberate intent to transmit HIV, or without assess-
ment of risk—is subject to the same punishment as 
actual transmission. 
(10) According to the CDC, correct and con-
sistent male or female condom use greatly reduces 
the risk of HIV transmission. Nonetheless, most 
State HIV-specific laws and prosecutions do not 
treat the use of a condom during sexual intercourse 
as a mitigating factor or evidence that the defendant 
did not intend to transmit HIV. 
(11) In addition, criminal laws and prosecutions 
do not take into account the positive effects of con-
sistently taking antiretroviral medication, which can 
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lower viral load to undetectable levels and further re-
duce the risks of transmitting the virus. 
(12) Although HIV/AIDS currently is viewed as 
a chronic, treatable medical condition, people living 
with HIV have been charged under aggravated as-
sault, attempted murder, and even bioterrorism stat-
utes because prosecutors, courts, and legislators con-
tinue to view and characterize the blood, semen, and 
saliva of people living with HIV as a ‘‘deadly weap-
on’’. 
(13) Studies amply demonstrate that HIV-spe-
cific laws do not influence the behavior of people liv-
ing with or at risk of HIV in those States where 
these laws exist. Furthermore, placing legal respon-
sibility for preventing the transmission of HIV and 
other pathogens exclusively on people diagnosed with 
HIV undermines the public health message that all 
people should practice behaviors that protect them-
selves and their partners from HIV and other sexu-
ally transmitted diseases. 
(14) Approximately 13 States mandate that all 
those who are aware that they have HIV must dis-
close their HIV status to partners, despite CDC pre-
vention guidelines that encourage States to devise 
partner notification services that are voluntary, con-
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fidential, and conducted in a collegial and coopera-
tive manner and are sensitive to potential con-
sequences of notification. Such consequences can in-
clude damage to relationships, loss of housing and 
potential violence. 
(15) Often, the identity of an individual accused 
of violating any of these HIV-specific restrictions is 
broadcast through media reports, potentially de-
stroying employment opportunities and relationships 
and violating the person’s right to privacy. 
(16) In some States, individuals who are con-
victed under an HIV-specific statute are forced to 
register as sex offenders, destroying their employ-
ability and fracturing family relationships, even in 
cases where no actual HIV transmission occurred. 
(17) The United Nations, including the Joint 
United 
Nations 
Programme 
on 
HIV/AIDS 
(UNAIDS), urges governments to ‘‘limit criminaliza-
tion to cases of intentional transmission. Such re-
quirement indicates a situation where a person 
knows his or her HIV-positive status, 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 sig-
nificant risk of transmission. 
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(18) 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 that pro-
mote and protect human rights. 
(19) The National Alliance of State and Terri-
torial AIDS Directors released a statement in Feb-
ruary 2011 saying that ‘‘HIV criminalization under-
cuts our most basic HIV prevention and sexual 
health messages, and breeds ignorance, fear and dis-
crimination against people living with HIV’’. 
NASTAD further ‘‘supports efforts to examine and 
support level-headed, proven public health ap-
proaches that end punitive laws that single out HIV 
over other STDs and that impose penalties for al-
leged nondisclosure, exposure and transmission that 
are severely disproportionate to the actual resulting 
harm’’. 
(20) In 2010, the President released a National 
HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), which addressed HIV- 
specific criminal laws, stating: ‘‘[W]hile we under-
stand 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 
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feel at even greater risk of discrimination. In some 
cases, it may be appropriate for legislators to recon-
sider whether existing laws continue to further the 
public interest and public health. In many instances, 
the continued existence and enforcement 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.’’. 
(21) The NHAS also states that State legisla-
tures should consider reviewing HIV-specific crimi-
nal statutes to ensure that they are consistent with 
current knowledge of HIV transmission and support 
public health approaches to preventing and treating 
HIV. 
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING LAWS OR REGU-
LATIONS DIRECTED AT PEOPLE LIVING WITH 
HIV/AIDS. 
It is the sense of Congress that Federal and State 
laws, policies, and regulations regarding people living with 
HIV/AIDS— 
(1) should not place unique or additional bur-
dens on such individuals solely as a result of their 
HIV status; and 
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(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; 
(B) the relative risk of 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 and policies on public health, on people liv-
ing with or affected by HIV, and on their fami-
lies and communities. 
SEC. 5. REVIEW OF FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS. 
(a) REVIEW OF FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—No 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 subsection and subsection (b) referred to as the 
‘‘designated officials’’) shall initiate a national re-
view of Federal and State laws, policies, regulations, 
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and judicial precedents and decisions regarding 
criminal and related civil commitment cases involv-
ing people living with HIV/AIDS, including in re-
gards to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. 
(2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the re-
view under paragraph (1), the designated officials 
shall ensure diverse participation and consultation 
from each State, including with— 
(A) State attorneys general (or their rep-
resentatives); 
(B) State public health officials (or their 
representatives); 
(C) State judicial and court system offi-
cers, including judges, district attorneys, pros-
ecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, 
and correctional officers; 
(D) members of the United States Armed 
Forces, including members of other Federal 
services subject to the Uniform Code of Military 
Justice; 
(E) people living with HIV/AIDS, particu-
larly those who have been subject to HIV-re-
lated prosecution or who are from communities 
whose members have been disproportionately 
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