Bill to expand infectious disease coverage to prison officers advances

Virginia lawmakers on Wednesday advanced to Gov. Ralph Northam a bill that would expand workers compensation coverage for hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis, tuberculosis and HIV disease and death to correctional officers and those working in enforcement at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

H.B. 169, which faced opposition from only three lawmakers when it passed the General Assembly this month, amends state law that already applies to most first responders, including police officers and firefighters, and presumes that the covered diseases were caused by a worker’s exposure to blood or other bodily fluids on the job.

Current law states that the presumptions “shall only apply if persons entitled to invoke them have, if requested by the appointing authority or governing body employing them, undergone preemployment physical examination.”