“On June 15th, the [California] state’s Joint Legislative Conference Committee on the budget voted to adopt a compromise proposal that imposes relatively modest reductions to the HIV/AIDS budget, rather than adopting the deep cuts proposed by the Administration. Following are the highlights of the Compromise Proposal:
ADAP: The Committee rejected the formulary reduction and premium payment components of the Administration proposal and instead identified other specific areas of cost-saving that do not have client impact. They voted to offset or “backfill” the State General Fund cuts by drawing money from a special reserve account established by drug company rebate payments to fully fund ADAP in FY 2009-10.
Counseling and Testing and Early Intervention Programs: No reduction.
Surveillance and Epidemiologic Studies: The proposal reduced General Fund support by $1 million and included trailer bill language that directed this money to be used to maintain core active surveillance activities. This cut means a reduction of approximately 12% of General Fund and 10% of total funds in this program area.
Education and Prevention: They approved a cut of $2.22 million, which means a reduction of approximately 9% of General Fund and 7% of total funds in this program area.
Therapeutic Monitoring Program: This program received a $714,000 cut, which means a reduction of approximately 9% of General Fund and total funds in this program area.
Housing: The Committee approved a cut of $101,000, which is approximately 9% of General Fund and 2% of total funds in this program area.
Home and Community Based Care: They voted to reduce this program by $538,000, which means a reduction of approximately 9% of General Fund and 5% of total funds in this program area.
State Operations: The Committee reduced General Fund support to the State Office of AIDS by $3.427 million, which is approximately 52% of General Fund and 16% of total funds in the area of support to operations.
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation strongly supports this compromise proposal from the Conference Committee. But this does not mean the process is over. The next steps for this budget process are as follows:
- The full Legislature must vote on this Conference Committee budget proposal, which is expected to happen next week.
- The Governor has to sign a final budget. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation remains hopeful that the Governor, who had supported HIV/AIDS funding in the first months of this budget crisis, will be receptive to this compromise proposal that is both compassionate and fiscally prudent.
As you probably know, the Legislature has not been able to come to agreement on the state budget. We are hopeful that whatever agreement they reach will not mean more cuts to HIV, but that remains to be seen. We are working closely with budget staff as well as communicating with the Governor’s office about the importance of preserving HIV funding. We are hopeful that the Legislature will be able to reach some agreement sooner rather than later and we are also hopeful that the Governor will preserve as much HIV funding as possible.”
