ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY, No. 2448

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: DECEMBER 16, 1996

 

      The Assembly Health Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 2448.

      As amended by the committee, this bill provides for an active partner notification program by requiring the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) or its designated entity to interview all contacts who are provided by individuals who are reported to be diagnosed with AIDS or HIV infection and, for this purpose, to seek to obtain the names of the spouse, sexual partners or needle-sharing partners of the infected individual. The department or its designated entity would then be required to make a good faith effort to notify each individual named as a partner, to inform that individual of the possibility that he or she has been exposed to HIV infection and to provide information on various prevention, testing and treatment issues. The bill further provides that the department or its designated entity would be precluded from disclosing the identity of the individual supplying the partner's name to the notified partner and that all information obtained concerning a partner would be held confidential.

      The committee amendments:

      -- clarify that the requirements of the bill apply to DHSS or its designated entity;

      -- provide that DHSS or its designated entity shall personally, when possible, and confidentially interview the contacts who are provided by the individual reported to be diagnosed with AIDS or HIV infection; and

      -- provide that DHSS or its designated entity shall seek to obtain the name and whereabouts of the individual's spouse as well as sexual or needle-sharing partner.