--- description: California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that would make knowingly exposing someone to HIV a misdemeanor instead of a felony title: California Lowers Penalty for Intentional HIV Exposure image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt598375e69e509ba5/6988e0fefb4eac08808940c0/gettyimages-106489288.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [California](/tag/california/) ## California Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # California Lowers the Penalty for Knowingly Exposing Someone to HIV ## Video: The Future of HIV Vaccine Development [Watch (HLS stream): The Future of HIV Vaccine Development](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wLwsKl6k.m3u8) (5:51)  _Published 2017-05-03. Experts are “cautiously optimistic.”_ by [Lisa Marie Segarra](/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2017 9:42 PM CUT  California Governor-elect Jerry Brown speaks during a press conference at his campaign headquarters on November 3, 2010 in Oakland, California. Brown secured his second Governorship by defeating Republican challenger Meg Whitman with nearly 54% of the votes despite the record setting $160 million spent on her campaign. California Governor-elect Jerry Brown speaks during a press conference at his campaign headquarters on November 3, 2010 in Oakland, California. Brown secured his second Governorship by defeating Republican challenger Meg Whitman with nearly 54% of the votes despite the record setting $160 million spent on her campaign.Photo by David Paul Morris–Getty by [Lisa Marie Segarra](/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2017 9:42 PM CUT California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill Friday that would make knowingly [exposing someone to HIV](http://time.com/4401942/hiv-transmission-aids-condoms/ "undefined") a misdemeanor instead of a felony. The law, SB 239, removes penalties that previously required someone convicted of the crime — defined as exposing someone to HIV through unprotected sexual activity if the infected person knew of their HIV-positive status at the time — to serve 3, 5 or 8 years in state prison, [Fox affiliate KMPH reported.](http://kmph.com/news/local/knowingly-infecting-someone-with-hiv-is-now-a-misdemeanor-in-california "undefined") The new law will also include those who donate blood without disclosing their HIV status to the blood bank, [the LA _Times_ noted.](http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-gov-brown-downgrades-from-felony-to-1507331544-htmlstory.html "undefined") Co-authors of the bill Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Todd Gloria said that people with HIV [now live longer lives ](http://time.com/4773541/hiv-aids-drugs-life-expectancy/ "undefined")and can have very low chances of transmitting the virus because of advances in medicine, the _Times_ reported. “Today California took a major step toward treating HIV as a public health issue, instead of treating people living with HIV as criminals,” Wiener said in a statement to the _Times,_ adding that under current law, some people might avoid being tested for HIV in order to avoid prosecution. HIV is the only communicable disease whose exposure is considered a felony under current California law, according to the report. > [](https://twitter.com/Scott%5FWiener/status/916435358799269888) Supporters of the bill told the _Times_ that previous cases were prosecuted where there was no physical contact involved and that [sex workers are disproportionately charged](http://motto.time.com/4640713/janet-mock-womens-rights-march/ "undefined")_,_ even in cases where the virus was not transmitted. But those against the bill argue that it could put others at risk. “I’m of the mind that if you purposefully inflict another with a disease that alters their lifestyle the rest of their life, puts them on a regimen of medications to maintain any kind of normalcy, it should be a felony,” Republican Sen. Joel Anderson of Alpine, who voted against the bill, said, according to the _Times_. “It’s absolutely crazy to me that we should go light on this.” The new law makes it illegal to intentionally transmit any infectious or communicable disease with the penalty reduced to a maximum of 6 months in a county jail. Anderson proposed extending the higher penalties to all infectious diseases, not just HIV, the _Times_ reported. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4973588/california-lowers-the-penalty-for-knowingly-exposing-someone-to-hiv/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4973588/california-lowers-the-penalty-for-knowingly-exposing-someone-to-hiv/"},"headline":"California Lowers the Penalty for Knowingly Exposing Someone to HIV","datePublished":"2017-10-07T21:42:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:46:38.303Z","description":"\"California took a major step toward treating HIV as a public health issue\"","url":"https://time.com/4973588/california-lowers-the-penalty-for-knowingly-exposing-someone-to-hiv/","keywords":["California","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt598375e69e509ba5/6988e0fefb4eac08808940c0/gettyimages-106489288.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt598375e69e509ba5/6988e0fefb4eac08808940c0/gettyimages-106489288.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jerry Brown Holds News Conference Day After Election","caption":"Jerry Brown Holds News Conference Day After Election","creditText":"Photo by David Paul Morris–Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/california/","name":"California"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4973588/california-lowers-the-penalty-for-knowingly-exposing-someone-to-hiv/","name":"California Lowers the Penalty for Knowingly Exposing Someone to HIV"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Future of HIV Vaccine Development","description":"Experts are “cautiously optimistic.”","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wLwsKl6k/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-03T15:22:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wLwsKl6k.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4973588/california-lowers-the-penalty-for-knowingly-exposing-someone-to-hiv/","duration":"PT5M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4973588/california-lowers-the-penalty-for-knowingly-exposing-someone-to-hiv/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```