ASSEMBLY, No. 709

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

208th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1998 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman MARION CRECCO

District 34 (Essex and Passaic)

Assemblyman FRANCIS L. BODINE

District 8 (Atlantic, Burlington and Camden)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

    Requires marriage license applicants to be tested for AIDS.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

    Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

 


An Act requiring AIDS testing for marriage license applicants and supplementing chapter 1 of Title 37 of the Revised Statutes.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. a. Before any person, who is now or hereafter authorized by law to issue marriage licenses, shall issue a license, each applicant therefor shall file with him a certificate signed by a physician licensed in this State or any other state or in any other territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or by a commissioned medical officer on active duty with the Armed Forces of the United States or with the Public Health Service, which certificate shall state that the applicant has submitted to an approved test for the presence of HIV infection and that the physician has notified the applicant in writing of the result of this test. The certificate shall be on a form prescribed by the Department of Health and Senior Services pursuant to subsection c. of this section. The physician signing the certificate shall set forth his office address therein and the certificate shall be valid for 30 days from the date of the HIV test.

    A physician licensed in this State may submit to the person authorized by law to issue marriage licenses, in lieu of a certificate, a statement over his signature that the female applicant for the license is near the termination of her pregnancy or the death of one or both applicants is imminent and that he has taken blood samples adequate for HIV testing from the applicant, excepting those whose death is imminent, and forwarded same to the department's laboratory, in which case a certificate shall not be required of the applicant prior to issuance of a license.

    b. The certificate shall contain a statement signed by the person in charge of the laboratory making the test, or other person authorized by the laboratory to sign the certificate, setting forth the test performed, the date thereof, the name and address of the person whose blood was tested, and certifying that the laboratory is approved for the performance of tests for the presence of the HIV infection by the Department of Health and Senior Services or the Armed Forces of the United States or the Public Health Service, or by the department of health of the District of Columbia, or of the territory or state in which the laboratory is situated. The applicant shall also sign a statement on the certificate setting forth that he is the applicant referred to therein.

    c. The certificate shall be on a form to be provided and distributed by the Department of Health and Senior Services to approved laboratories in the State or on a form approved for use in this State by the department. A notice to the applicant of the result of the approved test for the presence of HIV infection, required by subsection a. of this section and as prescribed by the department, shall be attached to the form. The notice shall include information concerning the implications of a positive test result.

    d. For the purpose of this act, a test for the presence of the HIV infection means a test to determine if an infection with the human immunodeficiency virus or any related virus identified as a probable causative agent of AIDS is present, performed in a laboratory in this State approved to make such tests by the Department of Health and Senior Services, a health department of a state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, wherein the laboratory is located, or in a laboratory of the Armed Forces of the United States or the United States Public Health Service.

    The laboratory test required by this act may be performed in the laboratories of the Department of Health and Senior Services.

    e. Any applicant for a marriage license, physician, or representative of a laboratory who misrepresents any of the facts called for by the certificate required pursuant to subsection a. of this section or a physician's statement, submitted in lieu thereof, or the notice to the applicant concerning the test for the presence of the HIV infection prescribed by this act; or any licensing officer who fails to receive the certificate, or a physician's statement, submitted in lieu thereof, or who shall have reason to believe that any of the facts thereon has been so misrepresented, and shall nevertheless issue a marriage license; or any person who shall otherwise fail to comply with the provisions of this act shall be subject to a penalty of not less than $10 nor more than $100, to be recovered with costs in a civil action by and in the name of the local board of health of the municipality where the marriage license was issued, or by and in the name of the Department of Health and Senior Services.

 

    2. Nothing in this act shall prohibit a licensing officer from issuing a marriage license to an applicant with a positive result to the test for the presence of the HIV infection.

 

    3. This act shall take effect on the 30th day after enactment.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill requires that applicants for a marriage license obtain a test for the presence of the HIV infection. Licensed physicians shall sign a certificate approved by the Department of Health and Senior Services stating that the applicant has submitted to an approved test for the presence of HIV infection. The physician shall also notify each applicant in writing of the result of the test, including information concerning the implications of a positive test result. The bill does not prohibit persons with a positive test result from obtaining a marriage license.