GovTrack’s Bill Summary
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H.R. 1429 (111th): Stop AIDS in Prison Act of 2009
- Introduced:
- Mar 11, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Maxine Waters [D-CA35]
- Status:
- Died (Passed House)
- See Instead:
- This bill was re-introduced as H.R. 3547 (112th) on Dec 01, 2011.
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
3/17/2009--Passed House without amendment.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced.
The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.) Stop AIDS in Prison Act of 2009 - Directs the Bureau of Prisons to develop, and draft regulations to implement, a comprehensive policy to provide HIV testing, treatment, and prevention for inmates in federal prisons and upon reentry into the community.
Requires such policy to provide for:
(1) testing of inmates upon intake and counseling;
(2) pre-test and post-test counseling;
(3) improvement of HIV/AIDS awareness and inmate education;
(4) HIV testing of inmates annually or upon exposure to HIV;
(5) HIV testing of pregnant inmates;
(6) comprehensive medical treatment of inmates who test positive and confidential counseling on managing their medical condition and preventing HIV transmission to other persons;
(7) protection of inmate confidentiality;
(8) testing, counseling, and referral of inmates to health care and social service agencies prior to reentry into the community;
(9) the right of inmates to refuse routine testing;
(10) excluding as "routine" the testing of an inmate who may have transmitted HIV to any U.S. officer or employee or to any person lawfully present but not incarcerated in a correctional facility; and
(11) timely notification to inmates of test results.
Amends the federal criminal code to:
(1) require HIV testing for all inmates upon intake regardless of length of sentence or risk factors;
(2) allow inmates to decline testing prior to release from incarceration;
(3) make HIV test results inadmissible in civil and criminal proceedings; and
(4) make HIV testing part of the routine health screening conducted at inmate intake.
Directs the Bureau of Prisons to report to Congress:
(1) within one year on Bureau policies and procedures to provide testing, treatment, and prevention education programs for hepatitis and other diseases transmitted through sexual activity and intravenous drug use; and
(2) annually on the incidence among inmates of diseases transmitted through sexual activity and intravenous drug use, including specific information on HIV/AIDS.
Authorizes appropriations.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/1/hr1429.
Background
In the 110th Congress, the House passed a similar bill (H.R. 1943) by voice vote, but the Senate never considered that legislation.
The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in 2003, 2% of State prison inmates and 1.1% of Federal prison inmates were known to be infected with HIV. Of the 23,964 inmates known to be HIV positive at that time, an estimated 5,944 were confirmed AIDS cases.
In an April 21, 2006 report, the Centers for Disease control reported that "the estimated prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is nearly five times higher for incarcerated populations (2.0%) than for the general U.S. population (0.43%)."
Summary
H.R. 1429 requires the Bureau of Prisons to develop a comprehensive policy to provide HIV testing, treatment, and prevention for inmates within the prison system and upon reentry. The Bureau would draft regulations to implement this policy within one year.
This legislation requires that medical personnel provide HIV testing to all new inmates upon their admission to prison and that all prisoners be provided with HIV testing within six months of enactment. Additionally, an HIV test would be provided upon request once a year, or "whenever an inmate has a reason to believe the inmate has been exposed to HIV," and medical personnel would provide routine HIV testing to all inmates who become pregnant. However, inmates would have the right to refuse routine HIV testing and be informed of this right.
H.R. 1429 states that all inmates who test positive for HIV would receive timely and comprehensive medical treatment, counseling, and voluntary partner notification services. The bill requires that the Bureau of Prison provide pre- and post-HIV test counseling services, as well as frequent, culturally sensitive, and multilingual educational HIV/AIDS programs with information on modes of transmission and methods of treatment and prevention.
The bill authorizes such sums as necessary to carry out H.R. 1429.
Cost
There is no Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate available for H.R. 1429. However, a similar bill (H.R. 1943) passed by the House in the 110th Congress was estimated to cost about $12 million over five years, subject to appropriations.
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:
United States Code
The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)
- Title 18: CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
- Part III: PRISONS AND PRISONERS
- Chapter 301: GENERAL PROVISIONS
- Section 4014: Testing for human immunodeficiency virus