BILL REQ. #:  H-4081.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/05/14.   

     AN ACT Relating to eliminating the disparate treatment of HIV in the criminal justice system; amending RCW 9A.36.011 and 70.24.140; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   In passing this act, the legislature intends to remove specific mention of the human immunodeficiency virus from the criminal statutes of the state to reflect that the human immunodeficiency virus should not be treated differently from other similar diseases and to reduce the stigma that such disparate treatment brings upon those infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. The legislature does not intend to narrow or broaden the statute defining assault in the first degree, RCW 9A.36.011, from current law.

Sec. 2   RCW 9A.36.011 and 1997 c 196 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A person is guilty of assault in the first degree if he or she, with intent to inflict great bodily harm:
     (a) Assaults another with a firearm or any deadly weapon or by any force or means likely to produce great bodily harm or death; or
     (b) Administers, exposes, or transmits to or causes to be taken by another, poison((, the human immunodeficiency virus as defined in chapter 70.24 RCW,)) or any other destructive or noxious substance; or
     (c) Assaults another and inflicts great bodily harm.
     (2)(a) For the purpose of this section, "destructive or noxious substance" includes, but is not limited to, any blood-borne pathogen, the normal course of which if untreated is death or great bodily injury or harm, except as described in (b) of this subsection.
     (b) A blood-borne pathogen is not a destructive or noxious substance for the purpose of this section if, at the time of exposure, there is no substantial risk of transmission. A court may not find substantial risk of transmission if the defendant:
     (i) Is in substantial compliance with a treatment regimen prescribed by the infected person's health care provider that measurably limits the risk of transmission of the blood-borne pathogen;
     (ii) Is in substantial compliance with behavioral recommendations of the infected person's health care provider or a public health official to measurably limit to risk of transmission of the blood-borne pathogen; or
     (iii) Utilizes other methods generally accepted by the medical profession to measurably limit the risk of transmission of the blood-borne pathogen, such as the use of a prophylactic device.
     (3) Assault in the first degree is a class A felony.

Sec. 3   RCW 70.24.140 and 1988 c 206 s 917 are each amended to read as follows:
     It is unlawful for any person who has a sexually transmitted disease, ((except HIV infection,)) when such person knows he or she is infected with such a disease and when such person has been informed that he or she may communicate the disease to another person through sexual intercourse, to have sexual intercourse with any other person, unless such other person has been informed of the presence of the sexually transmitted disease.