Bill Text: WV HB2073 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Making it a felony to knowingly expose another individual to HIV
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-02-10 - To House Health and Human Resources [HB2073 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2021-HB2073-Introduced.html
WEST virginia legislature
2021 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2073
By Delegate Sypolt
[Introduced February 10, 2021; Referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend and reenact §16-4-20 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to making it a felony to knowingly expose another individual to HIV without his or her informed consent; establishing criminal penalties; and imposing civil liability.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 4. SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES.
§16-4-20. Communication of disease; certificate; prohibiting knowing and willful exposure of another to HIV; criminal penalties; civil penalties.
(a) It shall be is unlawful for any person
suffering with an infectious venereal disease to perform any act which exposes
another person to infection with said disease, or knowingly to infect or expose
another person to infection with such disease; and no physician, health officer
or other person shall may give any certificate showing a person
to be free from a venereal disease, but such the certificate
shall simply state the results of tests and examinations that may have been
made, and what tests were made to arrive at the results stated.
(b) An individual who, knowing that he or she is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), willfully performs any act which exposes another person to HIV without that person’s informed consent is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than one nor more than five years, and fined not less than $1,000, nor more than $5,000. In addition to any criminal penalties imposed under this subsection, the court may order any individual convicted under this subsection to pay all or any portion of the cost of medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment of the victim, the need for which results from the act or acts for which the defendant is convicted, regardless of whether the victim is considered to have sustained bodily injury.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make it a felony to knowingly expose another individual to HIV without his or her consent; to impose penalties therefor; and to impose civil liability.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
