Missouri Lawmakers File Legislation To Modernize HIV Laws on World AIDS Day

Media Advisory
November 25, 2020

What: On World AIDS Day, a press conference will be held with Senator-elect Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston), Senator-Elect Greg Razer (D-Kansas City), Representative Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters), the Missouri HIV Justice Coalition, and other allied groups. Legislation will be pre-filed that morning and later in December that would modernize our state’s outdated and harmful HIV-specific criminal code and reduce HIV transmission. The legislators will also discuss legislation that they are sponsoring that would make HIV transmission prevention medication more easily accessible, as well as establishing needle and syringe exchange programs to reduce the risk of transmission of illness, including from use of injectable illegal drugs.

Senator-elect Rehder has filed similar legislation during her tenure in the Missouri House and is carrying her sponsorship of these bills over to the Senate. Rep. Christofanelli sponsored legislation last session that would make HIV transmission prevention medication more accessible; this is his first time being lead sponsor of House legislation that would modernize our HIV-specific criminal code. Senator-elect Razer is pleased to be lead sponsor of the bill on prevention medications on the Senate side of the Capitol Building.

When –                       Tuesday, December 1st, 2020, 1 p.m.

Where –                    Zoom Meeting

                                    https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89867720517

                                    Meeting ID: 898 6772 0517

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                                    +13126266799,,89867720517# US (Chicago)

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                                     1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

Who:                          

                                    Senator-elect Holly Rehder

                                    Senator-elect Greg Razer

                                    Representative Phil Christofanelli

                                    Molly Pearson & LaTrischa Miles, Missouri HIV Justice Coalition 

                                    Darius Rucker, Dir. of Health Services, Williams & Associates

The Missouri HIV Justice Coalition is a project of Empower Missouri. Empower Missouri (www.EmpowerMissouri.org) is a statewide not-for-profit advocating for the well-being of Missourians through civic leadership, education, and research. Founded as the Missouri Conference on Charities and Corrections in 1901, Empower Missouri has operated under four names in its 118-year history, but always with a focus on access to basic human needs and basic fairness. 

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