Senators introduce
5 new AIDS bills
**y Lee Rood
Staff Reporter
After the number of cases of
acquired immune deficiency syn
drome rose in Nebraska last year,
slate senators have introduced five
bills to help protect Nebraskans
from contracting the virus.
Although Nebraska’s first AIDS
case was reported in 1983, sponsors
of the AIDS bills said that until
recently, few people in the state
realized the seriousness of the dis
ease.
Recent AIDS figures and predic
tions have increased concern and
spawned legislation, the sponsors
said.
According to the Stale Health
Department, 49 cases of AIDS have
been reported in Nebraska since
1983. Twelve of the cases were
discovered in the last quarter of
1987.
The first AIDS bills to make it to
the floor of the Legislature,
LB 1012, would establish a state
wide AIDS cducation/counscling
program.
The bill, sponsored by the
Legislature’s Committee of Health
and Human Services, was praised
by members of the Stale Health
Department AIDS task force.
Shannon Ficne, health director
of the task force, said the bill would
provide services with slate funds it
cannot provide with existing fed
eral AIDS financing.
The bill was amended Thursday
by the Legislature’s Health and
Human Services Committee to in
clude a provision that requires sta
tistical information on the AIDS
antifxxly lest to be reported to the
Department of Health.
The statistical information
would include only the results of
HIV tests, which screen patients to
determine whether they carry the
AIDS virus, and AIDS antibody
tests. The names of the individuals
would not be included.
Medical professionals arc re
tiuired to report to the department
the names of all confirmed AIDS
patients.
Sen. Jerry Chizck of Omaha,
who sjxmsored three other AIDS
related bills, said he hadn’t con
fronted the AIDS issue before be
cause there had been some confu
sion in Nebraska about the serious
ness of the disease.
It wasn’t until the number ol
AIDS cases increased in the last
year that people understood the
impact of AIDS, he said.
“Nobody realized what we were
dealing with,” he said.
One of Chizek’s bills would
redefine first-degree assault to in
clude someone who knowingly
transmits AIDS to another person.
Chizek said he decided legisla
tion was needed after talking to
firefighters and police officers
worried about contracting the dis
ease.
There have been instances in
Omaha and Sarpy County where
AIDS victims have purposely tried
to give the disease to police and
highway patrolmen, Chizek said.
The same bill, LB 1071, would
make persons guilty who fail to
inform (when able) doctors or
morticians that a person they arc
treating has AIDS or other related
communicable diseases.
Another bill, LB 1070, would
require the Department of Health to
notify rescue personnel if they were
exposed to a person with a report
able disease such as AIDS.
Individuals who work to protect
people from the disease, especially
those in the medical profession,
should have the right to know if they
have been ex posed to AIDS.Chizek
said.
LB 1069, another of Chi/ek s
bills, would require employers to
provide workman’s compensation
to their employees if certain dis
eases, including AIDS, were con
tracted in the workplace.
Chi/ek said he introduced the
bills because society hasa responsi
bility to protect individuals from
the threat of AIDS.
Omaha Sen. Chris Abboud in
troduced a bill that would require
AIDS testing for anyone applying
for a marriage license.
Abboud said LB928 would not
require individuals to disclose the
results of the lest to a marriage
clerk, only proof that they had been
tested.
“This bill, which is similar to
bills passed in Illinois, Louisiana
and Texas, is an attempt to prevent
the AIDS crisis from mushrooming
in Nebraska,” Abboud said.
Abboud said he looked to other
suites for guidance on the bill,
tracking the rate at which AIDS has
grown in other parts of the country.
Abboud, like Chi/ek, said the
number of AIDS cases in Nebraska
this year prompted him to take ac
tion.
Celeste: Midwest overlooked;
government biased toward coasts
By Anne Mohri
Senior Reporter
The Midwest’s ability to produce
goods is overlooked because of a
“profound bi-coastal bias in our coun
try,” Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste said
Monday.
At a press conference in Lincoln,
Celeste said coastal regions receive
more federal research dollars.
Celeste, chairman of the Midwest
Governors Association, is touring the
13 states in the Midwest region.
The Midwest receives 10 percent
of federal research development dol
lars, 6 percent of federal defense
dollars and 3 percent of federal re
search dollars pertaining to the Strate
gic Defense Initiative, he said.
“Out of the more and more ad
vanced areas of development we
seem to be getting less and less,” he
said. “One of the reasons for selling
the M id west is to encourage people to
recognize this is the most productive
part of the country.”
Industries do not save money by
locating on the coasts, because they
are high-cost areas, he said.
Although economic development
r”1".. ■
incentive packages are desirable, he
said, it is important to help already
existing businesses in the Midwest to
modernize and continue to be com
petitive. Seventy-five percent of fu
‘One of the rea
sons for selling the
Midwest is to en
courage people
to recognize this is
the most produc
tive part of the
country.'
—Celeste
lure jobs will be created by already
existing businesses, he said.
Therefore, Celeste said, a balance
has to be made between a sufficient
tax base for existing businesses and an
attractive environment for invest
ment opportunities.
Washington policy-makers have a
growing appreciation for the Mid
west, he said. The governors’ associa
tion would continue to “try' to bring
home our concerns to our representa
tives in Washington and encourage
them to work in a cooperative fash
ion,” he said.
The type of business is not impor
tant, he said. The important issue is
that small businesses are able to grow,
particularly in an agriculture-based
region.
Many of the companies are look
ing to locate in smaller towns, not in
established metropolitan areas, he
said.
Later in the day, Celeste spoke
with University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chancellor Martin Massengale and
student leaders.
“What the world needs most, we
have in extraordinary abundance in
this region,” he said.
He said Midwest students are leav
ing the region to find a future. Based
on the skills and imagination of
people in the Midwest, jobs will be
created, Celeste said.
Although it will not be easy, the
future of Midwestem students is right
here, he said.
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Minority report
due this spring
MINORITY from Page 1
Affairs, said that often it’s while,
middle-class people who make deci
sions al universities.
Smith said the university has a
fairly short history of black students.
1970 was the first year black stu
dents, besides athletes, attended
UNL.he said.
Smith said black students weren’t
discriminated against in admissions
before 1970, but didn’t feel they had
the opportunity or money to attend
UNL.
Carranza said the commission will
pul out a report in the spring.
Members of the commission in
clude: Hubert Brown, produccr/rc
portcr for public affairs, University
Television; Dr. Mario Kelly,assistant
professor of educational psychology;
Dr. Esther Marine/, assistant profes
sor of modem languages and litera
ture; Gloria Cheney, staff secretary at
the department of special education
and communication disorders; Dr.
Shashi Verma, professoral the Center
of Agricultural Meteorology and Cli
matology; Dr. Richard Longsdalc,
director of international studies and
professor of geography; Dan Pacz,
undergraduate student in business
administration; and Sauni Wilson,
political science graduate student.
I-—---1
February 17, 1988 is the Deadline!
All applications for the Student Health and Accident
Insurance must be received by February 17, 1988.
Brochures and information are available at: |
UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER
or call 472-7437
Check these points:
• Am I still eligible for coverage under my parent’s plan?
A. Is there an age limit? Most policies limit the age for
dependent coverage to age 23.
B. Are you thinking of marriage? Most policies exclude a
dependent after he becomes married.
• Have I declared financial independence from my
parents by receiving financial aid, and no longer
eligible as a dependent under their plan?
• Would a medical emergency deplete funds set
set aside for my education?
_ «