By Peter Hancock Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law Tuesday that repeals criminal penalties for people who transmit HIV to others. House Bill 1063, by Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, and Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, deletes language adopted in Illinois and many other states during the early days of the HIV epidemic that made it a felony for an individual to engage in certain activities such as unprotected sex, donating blood or tissue or sharing nonsterile intravenous needles knowing that he or she was infected with HIV. “Research has shown these laws … don't decrease infection rates, but they do increase stigma,” Pritzker said. “It's high time that we treat HIV as we do other treatable transmissible diseases, thereby treating our residents with dignity and furthering our mission to end this epidemic in Illinois.”