\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPennsylvania lawmakers have unanimously passed an omnibus human trafficking bill that includes a provision removing felony charges for individuals arrested for prostitution while knowingly HIV-positive, a measure that is now awaiting Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s signature. How the provision advancedPhiladelphia Democratic Rep. Ben Waxman, who introduced the provision earlier this year, explained how the legislative process allowed the proposal to move forward.\u201cA proposal may not be strong enough to pass on its own, so lawmakers look for chances to attach it to a larger bill that already has momentum,\u201d Waxman said. Repealing an outdated HIV-related lawThe provision eliminates a law that elevated misdemeanor prostitution charges to felony charges if the individual was HIV-positive and aware of their status. Waxman described the law as outdated and rooted in fear from decades ago. \u201cIt\u2019s laws that hearken back to what I would call the AIDS panic of the 80s and early 90s, when there was a lot of fear, and a lot of misunderstanding of the illness and the disease. And in particular, now that we have, you know, really good treatment for HIV, people are living very long lives with HIV because we have really, really good treatment now. And the science has really advanced. It\u2019s a really outdated way to prosecute people,\u201d Waxman said. A compromise to secure passageWaxman\u2019s initial proposal in March passed out of a House committee but failed to gain support in the Senate. When Senate Bill 45 began gaining momentum, Waxman presented the provision again, and it was included in the larger human trafficking bill. Despite some private Republican pushback, the bill passed unanimously over the weekend. The measure is not retroactive, a compromise Waxman said was necessary to ensure its passage. Lawmakers noted they are unaware of anyone currently incarcerated under the specific felony enhancement. Waxman emphasized the importance of removing the possibility of such charges entirely. A step for criminal justice reform\u201cYou know, obviously we\u2019re in a time where criminal justice reform is challenging, right? It\u2019s a challenging environment for that right now. And so I think that\u2019s the other piece of this. This is one of the major, not just around HIV and communities living with HIV, but also just in general, you know, a step forward for reform in Pennsylvania\u2019s criminal justice system, which is something that is a priority of mine. And I think it\u2019s important to point out, you know, we can do these things and we can figure out compromise and we can make progress on things that maybe might have been seen as controversial,\u201d Waxman said. Support and next stepsThe Pennsylvania Equality Caucus celebrated the bill\u2019s passage, stating that it aligns state law with current science and reduces stigma for the LGBTQ+ community. Gov. Shapiro is expected to sign the bill soon.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tHARRISBURG, Pa. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania lawmakers have unanimously passed an omnibus human trafficking bill that includes a provision removing felony charges for individuals arrested for prostitution while knowingly HIV-positive, a measure that is now awaiting Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s signature. <\/p>\n
How the provision advanced<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Democratic Rep. Ben Waxman, who introduced the provision earlier this year, explained how the legislative process allowed the proposal to move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cA proposal may not be strong enough to pass on its own, so lawmakers look for chances to attach it to a larger bill that already has momentum,\u201d Waxman said. <\/p>\n
Repealing an outdated HIV-related law<\/p>\n
The provision eliminates a law that elevated misdemeanor prostitution charges to felony charges if the individual was HIV-positive and aware of their status. Waxman described the law as outdated and rooted in fear from decades ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s laws that hearken back to what I would call the AIDS panic of the 80s and early 90s, when there was a lot of fear, and a lot of misunderstanding of the illness and the disease. And in particular, now that we have, you know, really good treatment for HIV, people are living very long lives with HIV because we have really, really good treatment now. And the science has really advanced. It\u2019s a really outdated way to prosecute people,\u201d Waxman said. <\/p>\n
A compromise to secure passage<\/p>\n
Waxman\u2019s initial proposal in March passed out of a House committee but failed to gain support in the Senate. When Senate Bill 45 began gaining momentum, Waxman presented the provision again, and it was included in the larger human trafficking bill. Despite some private Republican pushback, the bill passed unanimously over the weekend. <\/p>\n
The measure is not retroactive, a compromise Waxman said was necessary to ensure its passage. Lawmakers noted they are unaware of anyone currently incarcerated under the specific felony enhancement. Waxman emphasized the importance of removing the possibility of such charges entirely. <\/p>\n
A step for criminal justice reform<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, obviously we\u2019re in a time where criminal justice reform is challenging, right? It\u2019s a challenging environment for that right now. And so I think that\u2019s the other piece of this. This is one of the major, not just around HIV and communities living with HIV, but also just in general, you know, a step forward for reform in Pennsylvania\u2019s criminal justice system, which is something that is a priority of mine. And I think it\u2019s important to point out, you know, we can do these things and we can figure out compromise and we can make progress on things that maybe might have been seen as controversial,\u201d Waxman said. <\/p>\n
Support and next steps<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Equality Caucus celebrated the bill\u2019s passage, stating that it aligns state law with current science and reduces stigma for the LGBTQ+ community. <\/p>\n
Gov. Shapiro is expected to sign the bill soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania lawmakers have unanimously passed an omnibus human trafficking bill that includes a provision removing felony charges for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[442,104087,24212,104091,28,104088,30,20037,29,104089,104092,104090],"class_list":["post-242746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-gov-josh-shapiro","tag-hiv-related-felony-penalty","tag-lgbtq-community","tag-omnibus-human-trafficking-bill","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-equality-caucus","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-lawmakers","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-philadelphia-democratic-rep-ben-waxman","tag-removal-of-hiv-related-felony-penalty","tag-senate-bill-45"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}