In a revised state
budget that calls for an additional $489 million in cuts,
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger struck a devastating
blow to HIV/AIDS service groups by slashing funding for
prevention and care management programs.
Calling the revised
budget "kind of like the good, the bad, and the ugly,"
Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto power to make steep cuts
in child welfare, child health care, programs for the elderly,
and HIV/AIDS services. Though the governor's office cited an
overall $52 million in cuts to HIV programs, the California
Department of Public Health's Office of AIDS estimated the
total figure will likely climb as high as $85
million.
"There are no general
funds remaining for care and support [this year]," Michelle
Roland, chief of the Office of AIDS, said in a Tuesday
conference call with care providers. Some care programs will
receive only one fifth the funding compared to last year, she
said.
It is also unclear how
the state will allocate remaining funds to local service and
medical programs, though Roland said her office will be
communicating with providers in the coming days.
After voters rejected a
package of ballot measures in May that included temporary tax
increase proposals, several major HIV/AIDS organizations in the
state, anticipating inevitable funding losses, had proposed
cuts totaling about $35 million to a state budget
conference.
Phil Curtis, the
director of government affairs for AIDS Project Los Angeles,
said that vital services like home health care for persons
living with HIV/AIDS were among those at risk as state cuts put
a squeeze on local programs.
When asked whether his
organization would have the capacity to continue serving its
estimated 9,500 registered clients in the Los Angeles area,
Curtis said, "We're not. The county is not. The state is not.
That's the bottom line of this budget. This is a public health
disaster for the state of California."
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