Legislators refile HIV criminal code bills
Several advocacy groups and legislators say Missouri’s HIV and drug treatment policies are outdated.
On Monday Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, and Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, are refiling bills to improve public health laws and seeking an early hearing.
A news conference is scheduled at 11 a.m. in the House Lounge to discuss legislation meant to improve public health by updating the state’s HIV criminal code and creating a clean needle exchange program.
“The change we are proposing with this legislation will encourage more people to know their status,” Rehder said in the release.
Missouri is one of 32 states in which laws criminalize HIV exposure, the legislators. Missouri laws include criminalizing transmission through saliva, though the virus cannot be spread that way.
Rehder and McCreery offered bills to modernize the HIV laws in the last legislative session. The bills received a positive hearing and invitation from the Health and Mental Health Committee to bring the bills forward again in 2019.
Rehder will also talk about her re-filing of a bill that would establish a clean needle exchange program for intravenous drug users. The bill is meant to reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV that are transmitted through sharing needles.
