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Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§300ff–27a Spousal Notification

Title 42 › CHAPTER 6A — PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER XXIV — HIV HEALTH CARE SERVICES PROGRAM › Part B — Care Grant Program › subpart i — general grant provisions › § 300ff–27a

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

States must require a good-faith effort to tell a spouse of someone diagnosed with HIV that the spouse may have been exposed and should get tested. The federal government will not give grants under Part B of Title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act to a state unless the state adopts this rule by law or administrative action. Spouse = married partner now or within 10 years before diagnosis; HIV-infected patient = a person diagnosed with HIV; State = any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §300ff–27a

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall not make a grant under part B of title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300ff–21 et seq.) to any State unless such State takes administrative or legislative action to require that a good faith effort be made to notify a spouse of a known HIV-infected patient that such spouse may have been exposed to the human immunodeficiency virus and should seek testing.
(b)Definitions
For purposes of this section: (1) Spouse
(2)HIV-infected patient
The term “HIV-infected patient” means any individual who has been diagnosed to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.
(3)State
The term “State” means any of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, or any territory of the United States.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Public Health Service Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act July 1, 1944, ch. 373, 58 Stat. 682. Part B of title XXVI of the Act is classified generally to this part. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 201 of this title and Tables. Codification Section was enacted as part of the Ryan White CARE Act

Amendments

of 1996, and not as part of the Public Health Service Act which comprises this chapter.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1996, see section 13 of Pub. L. 104–146, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1996 Amendment note under section 300ff–11 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 300ff–27a

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110