Pataki vetoes New York AIDS bills

New York governor George Pataki on Wednesday vetoed 199 spending and tax bills, including nine measures that affect state funding of HIV/AIDS programs, the Albany Times Union reports. The bills would have allocated more than $30 million in state funds for the programs. One of the bills would have boosted cost-of-living adjustments for more than 60,000 state residents, including those with AIDS, who receive supplemental security income from the government. Among the other vetoed bills was a measure that would have increased funding for groups conducting HIV prevention efforts in minority communities. Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and Senate majority leader Joe Bruno, a Republican, said both chambers have the two-thirds majority necessary to override Pataki's vetoes and that they plan to introduce measures to override them before the end of the week.