Virginia lawmakers have advanced a bill to the governor that would expand workers' compensation coverage for several infectious diseases to correctional officers and individuals working in enforcement at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill, H.B. 169, amends state law that already gives these protections to first responders in the state. Some specific diseases that are mentioned are hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis, tuberculosis, and HIV disease and death.

Current law allows those presumptions to apply only "if persons entitled to invoke them have, if requested by the appointed attorney or governing body employing them, undergone preemployment physical examination."

This change is important for individuals in the above-mentioned positions, as well as for first responders, such as firefighters and police officers, because they are much more likely to be exposed to an infectious disease or blood or other bodily fluids while on the job than most other individuals working for the same institutions.