California Slashes HIV/AIDS Prevention Funding in New Budget

On Tuesday, the 85th day of the current fiscal year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed California's $143 billion budget. Before signing it, the governor sliced $510 million from the spending plan.

Two programs called vital by AIDS activists were spared cuts: the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and the Therapeutic Monitoring Program. However, some other HIV/AIDS initiatives fared worse. The pared-down budget:

• Cuts $5 million from HIV/AIDS prevention services.
• Reduces funding for HIV/AIDS-related housing assistance, early intervention, and counseling and testing.
• Eliminates entirely a program providing mental health services for people with HIV/AIDS.

While grateful that the AIDS drug and monitoring programs were preserved, AIDS Project Los Angeles Executive Director Craig E. Thompson expressed worry about the reduced prevention spending, particularly given CDC's recent estimate showing the annual number of new US HIV infections at 40 percent higher than previously thought. "Slashing prevention programs at a time of rising HIV rates is bad policy," he said. "This is terrible news for young adults, gay men, and men and women of color who are at heightened risk for HIV in California and across the nation."

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