In his 2010-11 budget proposal, made available Jan. 8, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger includes an additional $87.5 million for the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program. This year, ADAP is expected to provide medicine to 37,000 low-income Californians with HIV/AIDS.
Advocates had feared there would be a shortfall of up to $100 million for the program. "Overall, it's extremely good news, and lot of people with HIV in the state of California can breathe a huge sigh of relief today and will be much more comfortable as a result of this," said Dana Van Gorder of Project Inform, which has been pushing for full funding of ADAP.
However, not included in the ADAP proposal is $9.5 million for treatment in county jails, Van Gorder noted. He said he and others will work with the Legislature on restoring this funding.
The state is trying to plug a $20 billion deficit for fiscal year 2010-11, and Schwarzenegger's proposal includes some $8.5 billion in spending cuts to various programs, including $750 million for Medi-Cal and $811 million for prison health care.
Last year, Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto authority to slash $52.1 million in general fund AIDS program support. This was in addition to more than $30 million lawmakers had already cut from the state Office of AIDS.
In announcing the budget proposal at a press conference, Schwarzenegger said, "I know the budget I've laid out is difficult and painful, but we know California is resilient and we will once again get through these tough challenges."
01/14/10
CALIFORNIA: AIDS Program Largely Protected in Governor’s Proposed Budget
Source: Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco):: Seth Hemmelgarn; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention