Washington ? Experts at an early August international AIDS conference in Mexico City were full of praise for the United States for having reversed a 15-year-old law banning HIV-positive people from entering the country.

But nearly two months after President Bush signed that act into law, his administration has yet to take the steps needed to put the new law into practice, and lawmakers and advocacy groups are wondering what is going on.

“We write to encourage you to act quickly to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance and end the HIV travel and immigration ban,” Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., main backers of the measure in the Senate, wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt last month.

Fifty-eight House Democrats last week went right to the top, writing a letter to Bush that urged him to take “swift action on this issue.” The signees included California Reps. Barbara Lee, chief sponsor in the House, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, all California Democrats.

Last July 30, Bush signed into law a five-year, $48 billion bill to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world and to end the ban on HIV travelers.

But before the statutory ban can effectively be ended, HHS must write a new rule, submit it for public comment and finalize it.

“Congress has sent a clear signal that we can’t fight discrimination and stigma abroad until we end them at home,” said Victoria Neilson, legal director of Immigration Equality. “Congress has done its part – it’s time for HHS to act.”

“We’re working hard to revise the regulation and it’s our goal to have it completed during this administration,” said HHS spokeswoman Holly Babin. She said it was “a time-consuming process and we are giving it the attention it deserves in an effort to anticipate all issues and get it right.”