Kansas Lawmakers OK Repeal of AIDS Quarantines Ban

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have approved a bill to protect medical and

emergency workers that also repeals a 25-year-old ban on quarantining AIDS and HIV patients.

The bill is headed to Gov. Sam Brownback after both chambers approved it Friday night. The votes were 36-2 in the Senate and 120-0 in the House.

The bill directs the state health department to draft rules making it easier for medical and emergency workers to learn if they've been exposed to infectious diseases.

The provision repealing the 1988 law protecting AIDS and HIV patients faced strong criticism from gay rights advocates and civil libertarians.

The health department promised legislators its new rules would continue a ban. Agency officials said even without a ban, it would never be medically necessary to quarantine AIDS or HIV patients.