SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The Bay Area’s major AIDS and HIV organizations are urging lawmakers to restore the $52 million cut from prevention and treatment programs when the governor signed the new budget.
“We will see an increase in the number of people who are newly infected with HIV,” said Dana Van Gorder with Project Inform. “Services that are keeping people who are already HIV positive healthy will be reduced with a major impact on their health.”
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had a pained look on his face as he announced what he called the “ugly” decision to use line item vetoes to lower the amount of funding for AIDS-related programs in California.
“The governor has removed a substantial amount of our capacity to make sure that people know their HIV status,” Van Gorder said.
The state will no longer pay for any testing, counseling or therapeutic monitoring. That turns the clock back nearly 20 years, said Courtney Mulhern-Pearson with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
“These cuts are devastating, completely dismantling the state response to HIV – AIDS,” she said.
All of the cuts to the Health and Human Services budget affect California’s most vulnerable populations, Mulhern-Pearson said. Those cuts could be avoided, she and others said, if the Assembly resorts to using county gas tax money to balance the budget.
A major rally outside the state building in San Francisco is planned for next week.
(jro)
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