Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Saturday June 20 2:28 PM EDT
Under the legislation, anyone testing positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, will be reported to the state Health Department. They will be asked to volunteer the names of their sexual partners, who would be contacted about the test results.
The state Assembly passed the measure 112-34, and the state Senate approved it in a 55-6 vote late Thursday.
Republican Gov. George Pataki has indicated his support for the measure, and he is expected to sign the bill into law.
Some AIDS activists opposed the idea out of concern that people with the disease would feel marked and that it might dissuade people from being tested.
The confidential registry could be set up by mid-1999.
"It is the first of its kind in the nation, with name reporting and partner notification," said Bill Viscovich, counsel for state assembly member Nettie Mayersohn of New York City, who sponsored the bill.
A registry for AIDS patients already exists in New York.
In related news, Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles Friday vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the knowing spread of HIV.
The legislation would have made it a felony to sell tainted blood or have sex with a partner ignorant of the diseased condition without giving a warning. Knowles said the bill would have been counter-productive, causing infected people to fear testing and health treatment.
The bill, passed last month by the Republican-controlled legislature, "would for the first time criminalize a disease in Alaska. No other disease has ever been criminalized -- not tuberculosis, not syphilis, not diphtheria, not even typhoid," he said.
The bill is unnecessary, he said, because Alaska has laws criminalizing reckless endangerment and various forms of assault.
State Sen. Robin Taylor, a Republican from Wrangell who sponsored the bill, said the governor was wrong about the measure's potential effects.
In a news release, Taylor said that officials in other states where similar laws are in place "said they saw no decrease in testing."
Taylor told Anchorage television station KTUU that he would seek a legislative override of the veto.
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