Public Health Response to AIDS Act of 1989

Public Health Response to AIDS Act of 1989 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to mandate that States receiving grants for counseling and testing with regard to the etiologic agent for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) require any entity carrying out the testing to confidentially report to: (1) the State public health officer information sufficient to perform statistical and epidemiological analysis; and (2) the appropriate public health officer information sufficient to locate individuals determined to be infected.

Requires the State to agree to provide to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control all such statistical and epidemiological information.

Declares that the requirement to report locating information does not: (1) require establishing a list of names and addresses if the individuals can be located with other information; or (2) prohibit establishing a name and address list.

Mandates that the State: (1) require that the appropriate public health officer carry out, to the extent appropriate in the determination of such officer, a program of partner notification with respect to cases of exposure to the etiologic agent; and (2) recommend to notified individuals that they undergo testing and provide them with information on the medical benefits of early diagnosis.

Mandates that States require that testing be routinely offered: (1) in areas with 0.1 percent of the population infected with the etiologic agent, by marriage license facilities and hospitals; and (2) by providers that regularly provide treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, providers that regularly provide treatment for intravenous substance abuse, family planning clinics, and tuberculosis clinics.

Mandates that States: (1) require testing of prisoners upon entering the State penal system, before and after each unsupervised leave, and during the 30-day period before release; (2) inform any penal system employee, on request of the employee, if the employee has a reasonable basis for believing that the employee may have been exposed by an individual to the etiologic agent, of that individual's test results; and (3) inform the spouse of the individual prior to each conjugal visit and prior to release. Requires all prison employees and such spouses to be informed of the availability of the test results.

Mandates that States: (1) prohibit acts which knowingly expose nonconsenting other individuals to the etiologic agent through a donation of blood, semen, breast milk, or an organ, through sexual activity, through sharing of hypodermic needles, or through any behavior with the intent to expose another nonconsenting person. Requires that States: (1) authorize a civil cause of action for violation of these prohibitions; and (2) provide for commanding any public health official, in connection with such action, to disclose locating information received under this Act.

Requires a State to: (1) consider cases of infection with the etiologic agent for AIDS to be communicable or sexually transmitted diseases for purposes of any State law regarding such diseases; (2) carry out activities for the protection of the public health regarding such cases to not less than the extent to which the State carries out such activities regarding other communicable or sexually transmitted diseases; and (3) impose on medical personnel prerequisites to the testing for the etiologic agent only to the extent the State does so for communicable or sexually transmitted diseases other than AIDS.

Allows a State to receive a grant for such testing and counseling during FY 1990 and 1991 if the State provides assurances that it will, by the end of FY 1991, establish the requirements, authorities, prohibitions, and other provisions described in this Act. Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from requiring a State to enact any statute or issue any regulation if its chief executive officer certifies that the State is in substantial compliance with this Act.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to States for counseling and testing with respect to the etiologic agent for AIDS, including for individuals using a pseudonym, subject to the requirements of this Act regarding reporting of sufficient information to locate individuals whose tests indicate they are infected. (Current law authorizes grants for such counseling and testing, either anonymously or through the use of pseudonym.)

Directs the Secretary to: (1) consider cases of infection with the etiologic agent for AIDS to be communicable or sexually transmitted diseases for purposes of any Federal law regarding such diseases; and (2) carry out activities for the protection of the public health regarding such cases to not less than the extent to which the Secretary carries out such activities regarding other communicable or sexually transmitted diseases.