Local News in Brief : AIDS Vote Drive Backed
Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously backed an initiative drive that, if approved by voters, could result in defendants charged with sexual assault crimes being tested for sexually transmittable diseases including AIDS.
The board members, responding to a request by Sheriff Sherman Block, endorsed “the communicable disease tests initiative,” which organizers hope to qualify for the November ballot.
The initiative would allow victims of sexual assault to seek a court order requiring a defendant to undergo testing for sexually transmittable diseases with the results made known to the victim or, in the case of a child, the victim’s parent or guardian, Block said.
The victim would have to agree to maintain confidentiality of the test results, and they would not be admissible in a trial.
The initiative also would enable law enforcement officers, firefighters or emergency medical workers who are victims of physical assaults and exposed to bodily fluids such as blood to make a similar request for testing of defendants.
Organizers have until April 18 to gather 372,178 valid signatures to qualify the initiative for the November ballot.
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