State Agrees to Change Wording on AIDS Initiative

Pressed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the state attorney general’s office agreed Wednesday to rewrite the ballot language for Proposition 102, an initiative requiring that people exposed to the AIDS virus be reported to health officials.

As originally worded, the ballot stated that the initiative would require “AIDS case reporting.” But the ACLU contended that the measure--sponsored by Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton)--was misleading because it actually requires physicians to report the names of people who test positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), including those who have not developed symptoms of the disease.

The attorney general’s office agreed to rewrite the measure’s title and change the wording in the ballot summary after the ACLU filed two separate lawsuits challenging the validity of the initiative. On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge James Ford approved the out-of-court settlement reached between the the ACLU and the attorney general.

“It’s a fair result and it will do its job,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Richard Frank.

In an effort to keep the initiative off the Nov. 8 ballot, the ACLU, in conjunction with the California Medical Assn. and the California Nurses Assn., filed an earlier lawsuit challenging the initiative on grounds that it violated the single-subject rule and that the qualifying petitions contained misrepresentative wording. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Roger Warren ruled against the ACLU.

ACLU attorney Matthew Coles called the initiative “extremely bad public health policy,” but said there are no further plans to challenge the ballot measure in court.

Wednesday’s settlement changes the initiative’s ballot title to read “Reporting Exposure to AIDS Virus” instead of the previous “AIDS Case Reporting,” which had been applied by the secretary of state’s office. It also adds language to the ballot summary saying that the measure would eliminate confidentiality of test results for those who test positive to the virus.

Paul Gann, the anti-tax crusader and a sponsor of the initiative, said he was “delighted with the new title because it accurately describes what the initiative does.” Gann contracted AIDS as the result of a blood transfusion five years ago.