Pages 3 – 89: Los Angeles City Council File No. 85-0869 S1 Pages 3 – 7: Public Health, Human Resources, and Senior Citizens Committee Report to Council of the City of Los Angeles (8/13/85) Pages 91 – 105: Los Angeles City Council File No. 85-0869 S2 Los Angeles City Council File No. 85-0869 S2 File No. 85-0869 Sl TO THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES -1- Your PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN RESOURCES, AND SENIOR CITIZENS Committee reports as follows: RECOMMENDATION That the proposed ordinance providing for civil penalties against those who discriminate against persons with AIDS or AIDS related conditions in the fields of housing, employment, and/or public services and accommodations BE PLACED UPON ITS PASSAGE. SUMMARY Your Public Health, Human Resources and Senior Citizens Committee began a series of hearings on the subject of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) medical condition pursuant to a Motion (Yaroslavsky-Bernardi-Stevenson) requesting recommendations on ways that the City can involve itself in fighting the epidemic and supporting its citizens who have been touched by the disease. After the first of these hearings, a second Motion (Wachs-Snyder) requesting an ordinance prohibiting discrimination against persons with AIDS was referred to your Committee. At hearings conducted on June 19, July 23, and August 13, 1985, your Committee learned that the first cases involving AIDS were reported in Los Angeles in 1981. Since that time over 900 cases of AIDS have been reported in Los Angeles County. The number of reported cases is growing geometrically, currently doubling every fourteen months. AIDS is now the leading cause of death of single men between the ages of fifteen and fifty. As of June 1, 1985, persons with AIDS resided in every Council District in the City of Los Angeles. Your Committee heard testimony from Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky; Councilman Michael Woo; Councilman Joel Wachs; Dr. Neil Shram, Chairman of the AIDS City/County Task Force; Bill Misenhimer, Executive Director of AIDS Project/Los Angeles; Colleen Johnson, Assistant Director of AIDS Project; Rev. Steve Pieters, a person with AIDS; John Mortimer, AIDS Project/LA; Dr. Peter Heseltine, Chief Physician of Hospital Epidemiology at County-USC Medical Center; Hugh Rice, Director of Health Services at the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center; Dr. Shirley Fannin, Los Angeles County Public Health Programs; Barbara Zeidman, Director of the City's Rent Stabilization Division; Grace Davis, Deputy Mayor; and others. File No. 85-0869 Sl TO THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES -2- Your PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN RESOURCES, AND SENIOR CITIZENS Committee reports as follows: The disease of AIDS is caused by a virus which is spread by '7~sexual contact ..or------bJ..oed or blood contact. It is a disease which :' ~ppears to be easy to spread sexually and very difficult to spread in other ways. There is no evidence that it is transmitted by casual contact. There are no cases of transmission of the disease within families to persons other than sexual partners. There is evidence that the disease is spreading rapidly into groups which were not previously deemed at risk. Testimony indicated that AIDS is not an "accepted mainstream disease" and that it has a stigma attached because it is a life threatening condition that was originally introduced in this country in the gay population. AIDS is different and it is different because of the stigma. Discrimination is more severe and prevents those with the disease from using existing systems. Much of the general population still believes that AIDS is casually contagious. Much of the discrimination is the result of inappropriate and irrational fear of the disease. Phobia concerning the disease is rampant. Persons with AIDS are faced with enormous stress in facing their medical conditions, financial ruin through astronomical medical expenses, the end of employment opportunities, and the stigma associated with the disease. They face additional stress in interfacing with the legal, medical, and financial bureaucracies with which they must deal. Some persons with AIDS are abandoned by family and friends. Your Committee heard testimony that persons with AIDS have significant problems in obtaining social services from both government and private agencies because many employees in the agencies refuse to deal with them. Bars and restaurants have asked persons with AIDS to leave their business establishments. In one case, a client reported to AIDS Project that the mailman refused to deliver mail to the person's domicile. School children with AIDS have not been allowed to attend school. Your Committee heard of one instance where an employee was demoted and moved into an isolated environment after his employer learned of his medical diagnosis. File No. 85-0869 S1 TO THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES -3- Your PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN RESOURCES, AND SENIOR CITIZENS Conunittee reports as follows: Many housing programs, even in the gay community, refuse to serve persons with AIDS. Barbara Zeidman of the City's Rent Stabilization Division testified that employees in that Division inform landlords that AIDS is not a cause for eviction of tenants. She pointed out that the number of calls and complaints concerning this issue has increased and that so far there have been nine complaints concerning evictions of persons with AIDS. In the two cases which went to court, she explained that the tenants were too ill to continue with the process. Other testimony suggested that landlords are often under tremendous pressure from other tenants to evict a person with AIDS who resides in an apartment complex. AIDS Project/Los Angeles has had extreme difficulty in locating hotel accommodations for persons with AIDS because few hotels will accept these people. In the field of health care, your Committee was informed that some health care workers have refused to take care of AIDS patients. There are no nursing homes and no hospices available locally for persons with AIDS. Ambulance companies have refused to transport AIDS patients. Very few dentists will treat AIDS patients, and those who treat them do not wish to be identified because they fear they will lose other patients. Many psychiatric facilities will not admit persons with AIDS. One of the consequences of the expanding health crisis is the increased incidence nationally of discrimination in a variety of fields including housing, employment, public services, business practices, etc. Although the City of Los Angeles currently prohibits discrimination in these fields based upon sexual orientation, new legislation is necessary because AIDS is not just a gay disease. About one-quarter of the persons with AIDS in the U.S. are not gay. Because people with AIDS often are not able physically or emotionally to challenge acts of discrimination through the legal system, your Committee originally recommended that the ordinance contain criminal penalties which can be enforced by the City Attorney. The City Attorney's Office advised the Committee, however, that (1) it believed that the inclusion of criminal penalties was fundamentally unfair because discrimination against other classes of persons has not been subject to criminal File No. 85-0869 Sl TO THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES -4- Your PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN RESOURCES, AND SENIOR CITIZENS Committee reports as follows: prosecution and (2) it believed that prosecution would not result in a reasonable likelihood of conviction. Councilman Wachs argued strongly for the imposition of criminal penalties on the basis that the AIDS situation is one which is unique. He explained that criminal penalties were not written into other antidiscrimination ordinances because of the cost factor involved in prosecting. Your Committee, following the recommendation of the City Attorney, unanimously recommended that the final ordinance contain provision for civil damages and injunctive relief but no criminal penalties. In the area of employment discrimination, the City Attorney's Office advised that it believed that the state had preempted the field and recommended that City avoid legislating in this field. The Committee was persuaded by Councilman Wachs' reasoning that the AIDS situation is unique, that the determination of preemption is based upon the particular factual situation litigated, that the City at least has the ability to regulate employment conditions for its own employees, and that because of the severability clause the remainder of the ordinance would not be jeopardized even if a court made the determination that the employment field is preempted. Notwithstanding the City Attorney's concerns, your Committee has recommended that the ordinance prohibit discrimination in the area of employment. The ordinance we are recommending will prohibit discrimination directed against persons with AIDS or AIDS related conditions in the areas of employment, housing, medical and dental services, business establishments, city facilities, city services and other public accomodations. There are exceptions in the ordinance for employment discrimination based upon a bona fide occupational qualification, and for discrimination in housing when the owner or any member of his/her family occupies the same living unit in common with the prospective tenant. Service facilities or establishments, such as blood banks and sperm banks, which engage in the exchange of products containing elements of blood or sperm, are also specifically exempt. File No. 85-0869 Sl TO THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES -5- Youi'"' PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN RESOURCES, AND SENIOR CITIZENS Committee reports as follows: Your Committee agrees with the opinion cogently expressed by Dr. Shirley Fannin that the sick person should not be at the mercy of people's ignorance or irrational fears. Recognizing that the existing situation is one which is so extreme and so important that action is necessary immediately, we recommend that this ordinance be adopted and that it become effective as an urgency measure. Respectfully submitted, PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN RESOURCES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE LRM 8/13/85 w!ldtil· .