CHAPTER 1. General Provisions [7500. - 7505.]

Cal. Penal Code - PEN 1.

in effect

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 7500. Section 7500.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The public peace, health, and safety is endangered by the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and hepatitis B and C within state and local correctional institutions. (b) The spread of AIDS and hepatitis B and C within prison and jail populations presents a grave danger to inmates within those populations, law enforcement personnel, and other persons in contact with a prisoner infected with the HIV virus as well as hepatitis B and C, both during and after the prisoner’s confinement. Law enforcement personnel and prisoners are particularly vulnerable to this danger, due to the high number of assaults, violent acts, and transmissions of bodily fluids that occur within correctional institutions. (c) HIV, as well as hepatitis B and C, have the potential of spreading more rapidly within the closed society of correctional institutions than outside these institutions. These major public health problems are compounded by the further potential of the rapid spread of communicable disease outside correctional institutions through contacts of an infected prisoner who is not treated and monitored upon his or her release, or by law enforcement employees who are unknowingly infected. (d) New diseases of epidemic proportions such as AIDS may suddenly and tragically infect large numbers of people. This title primarily addresses a current problem of this nature, the spread of HIV, as well as hepatitis B and C, among those in correctional institutions and among the people of California. (e) HIV, AIDS, and hepatitis B and C pose a major threat to the public health and safety of those governmental employees and others whose responsibilities bring them into direct contact with persons afflicted with those illnesses, and the protection of the health and safety of these personnel is of equal importance to the people of the State of California as the protection of the health of those afflicted with the diseases who are held in custodial situations. (f) Testing described in this title of individuals housed within state and local correctional facilities for evidence of infection by HIV and hepatitis B and C would help to provide a level of information necessary for effective disease control within these institutions and would help to preserve the health of public employees, inmates, and persons in custody, as well as that of the public at large. This testing is not intended to be, and shall not be construed as, a prototypical method of disease control for the public at large.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 7501. Section 7501.

In order to address the public health crisis described in Section 7500, it is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the following: (a) Establish a procedure through which custodial and law enforcement personnel are required to report certain situations and may request and be granted a confidential test for HIV or for hepatitis B or C of an inmate convicted of a crime, or a person arrested or taken into custody, if the custodial or law enforcement officer has reason to believe that he or she has come into contact with the blood or semen of an inmate or in any other manner has come into contact with the inmate in a way that could result in HIV infection, or the transmission of hepatitis B or C, based on the latest determinations and conclusions by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department of Public Health on means for the transmission of AIDS or hepatitis B and C, and if appropriate medical authorities, as provided in this title, reasonably believe there is good medical reason for the test. (b) Permit inmates to file similar requests stemming from contacts with other inmates. (c) Require that probation and parole officers be notified when an inmate being released from incarceration is infected with AIDS or hepatitis B or C, and permit these officers to notify certain persons who will come into contact with the parolee or probationer, if authorized by law. (d) Authorize prison medical staff authorities to require tests of a jail or prison inmate under certain circumstances, if they reasonably believe, based upon the existence of supporting evidence, that the inmate may be suffering from HIV infection or AIDS or hepatitis B or C and is a danger to other inmates or staff. (e) Require supervisory and medical personnel of correctional institutions to which this title applies to notify staff if they are coming into close and direct contact with persons in custody who have tested positive or who have AIDS or hepatitis B or C, and provide appropriate counseling and safety equipment.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 7502. Section 7502.

As used in this title, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (a) “Correctional institution” means any state prison, county jail, city jail, Division of Juvenile Justice facility, county- or city-operated juvenile facility, including juvenile halls, camps, or schools, or any other state or local correctional institution, including a court facility. (b) “Counseling” means counseling by a licensed physician and surgeon, registered nurse, or other health professional who meets guidelines which shall be established by the State Department of Public Health for purposes of providing counseling on AIDS and hepatitis B and C to inmates, persons in custody, and other persons pursuant to this title. (c) “Law enforcement employee” means correctional officers, peace officers, and other staff of a correctional institution, California Highway Patrol officers, county sheriff’s deputies, city police officers, parole officers, probation officers, and city, county, or state employees including but not limited to, judges, bailiffs, court personnel, prosecutors and staff, and public defenders and staff, who, as part of the judicial process involving an inmate of a correctional institution, or a person charged with a crime, including a minor charged with an offense for which he or she may be made a ward of the court under Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, are engaged in the custody, transportation, prosecution, representation, or care of these persons. (d) “AIDS” means acquired immune deficiency syndrome. (e) “Human immunodeficiency virus” or “HIV” means the etiologic virus of AIDS. (f) “HIV test” or “HIV testing” means any clinical laboratory test approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for HIV, component of HIV, or antibodies to HIV. (g) “Inmate” means any of the following: (1) A person in a state prison, or city and county jail, who has been either convicted of a crime or arrested or taken into custody, whether or not he or she has been charged with a crime. (2) Any person in a Division of Juvenile Justice facility, or county- or city-operated juvenile facility, who has committed an act, or been charged with committing an act specified in Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. (h) “Bodily fluids” means blood, semen, or any other bodily fluid identified by either the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or State Department of Public Health in appropriate regulations as capable of transmitting HIV or hepatitis B or C. (i) “Minor” means a person under 15 years of age.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 7503. Section 7503.

The Department of Corrections, the Department of the Youth Authority, and county health officers shall adopt guidelines permitting a chief medical officer to delegate his or her medical responsibilities under this title to other qualified physicians and surgeons, and his or her nonmedical responsibilities to other qualified persons, as appropriate. The chief medical officer shall not, however, delegate the duty to determine whether mandatory testing is required as provided for in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 7510) except to another qualified physician designated to act as chief medical officer in the chief medical officer’s absence.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 7504. Section 7504.

Actions taken pursuant to this title shall not be subject to subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive, of Section 120980 of the Health and Safety Code. In addition, the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 120990 of the Health and Safety Code, shall not apply to testing performed pursuant to this title.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 7505. Section 7505.

This title is intended to provide the authority for state and local correctional, custodial, and law enforcement agencies to perform medical testing of inmates and prisoners for the purposes specified herein. However, notwithstanding any other provision of this title, this title shall serve as authority for the HIV testing of prisoners in only those local facilities where the governing body has adopted a resolution affirming that it shall be operative in that city, county, or city and county. Testing within state correctional facilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and state juvenile facilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Youth Authority shall not be affected by this requirement.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026