San Francisco Examiner - Thursday, October 1, 1998
Robert Salladay, Examiner Capitol Bureau

Wilson said the measure, written by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, was flawed because the HIV-infected person's name would not be reported to the databank, and that "concerns over confidentiality and discrimination should not be used to justify an inadequate reporting system."

California is one of only nine states that does not report HIV statistics into a databank used to track the epidemic, which has killed 65,000 people in the state so far. Wilson said he would have preferred a bill allowing names to be recorded and notification of the infected person's sex partners.

AIDS activists and public health workers were dismayed at Wilson's veto. Pat Christen, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said it was "harmful and short-sighted and . . . squanders a unique opportunity to implement an HIV-reporting system."

Wilson's veto came in the final hours before his midnight Wednesday deadline to act on legislation from the 1997-98 session. The Republican governor, who is ending his second and final term this year, has gone through hundreds of bills this week, including a flurry of bills Wednesday concerning people with HIV and AIDS, and health care workers who treat them.

Wilson also signed:

*A bill mandating prison time for people convicted of having unprotected sex with the intention of infecting someone with HIV. The bill, by Sen. Richard Rainey, R-Walnut Creek, calls for up to three, five or eight years in prison, and allows for public disclosure of the person's HIV status if they are under investigation for this crime.

The measure does not cover people who have unprotected sex even when they know they are HIV positive. Instead, a prosecutor must work under a tougher legal standard - proving the person willfully intended to infect their partner.

*A measure, also written by Migden, requiring emergency regulations to protect health care workers from unsafe needles that may contain HIV or hepatitis B and C. Every year, 1 million U.S. health care workers are injured by accidental needle sticks. The measure forces state worker-safety agencies to act on the new regulations by Jan. 15, 1999.

*A measure, pushed by San Francisco Supervisor Gavin Newsom and a local real estate agent, establishing a new red-ribbon license plate to raise money for AIDS research in the UC system. The plates cost $50 apiece and $40 a year to renew. For the program not to be canceled, at least 5,000 Californians must order the red-ribbon plates within two years.

The AIDS community was most concerned about Migden's measure on reporting HIV statistics. Although the state does keep track of AIDS cases, many health care officials wanted a statewide system for HIV cases since many new drug cocktails are keeping people from showing symptoms of AIDS longer. Migden rejected a reporting system that included the infected person's name, in order not to scare people away from getting tested in the first place. Every infected person would have been assigned a "unique identifier" so public health officials could monitor the epidemic and look for trends.

"Our main concern is that it would deter people who are at the highest risk of HIV from testing and medical care," said Fred Dillon, state policy director for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "We need to do everything we can to avoid those kinds of barriers."

Eileen Hansen, co-chair of the California HIV Surveillance Coalition said Wilson has "chosen politics over sound public health policy." Public health officials agreed.

"This bill would have enabled California to modernize its AIDS case reporting system . . . without driving individuals away from HIV testing and medical care," said Dr. Mitchell Katz, director of public health for The City. "(The bill) represented a sound public health approach to HIV reporting, and deserved the governor's support."
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