AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Legislators from two Texas cities with the highest incidence of HIV in the state took steps Feb. 17 to make screenings for the virus a part of routine doctor visits.

Democratic Sen. Rodney Ellis, of Houston, and Rep. Yvonne Davis, of Dallas, filed legislation requiring doctors to offer the screenings during regular checkups. Patients would then have the choice to opt out of the screening.

The legislation would put Texas in line with 2006 recommendations by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calling for routine, voluntary HIV screenings for patients as young as 13.

According to the CDC, between 2003 and 2007 more than one-fourth of Texans with HIV were diagnosed late in the course of the disease and were diagnosed with AIDS within a month. Texas ranks fourth in the nation for reported cases of HIV.

Texas Department of State Health Services data for 2007 puts more than half of the state’s more than 62,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Houston and Dallas.

“Early diagnosis is a key to fighting the disease and its spread. The sooner a person is made aware of their status, the sooner they can change their behavior,” Ellis said.

“We’re getting more and more people just to get into the habit of testing,” said Randall Ellis, who leads government relations for Legacy Community Health Services, a medical care group that provides HIV treatment in Houston. “So there’s no stigma associated with getting an HIV test, like you’ve done something wrong.”

Randall Ellis, no relation to the senator, helped draft the legislation presented by Sen. Rodney Ellis.

The screening would be offered to all Texans between ages 13 and 64 in line with the CDC recommendations.

The proposed legislation would also require health insurers and Medicaid to cover the cost of the average $25 to $35 test.