California: Diminishing the Deficit's Damage

The Conference Committee on the Budget, a group comprising Democrats and Republicans from the Assembly and the Senate, is developing a plan for dealing with California's $24.3 billion deficit. The committee's proposal is an alternative to the extensive cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, which would slash $80.1 million from HIV/AIDS programs, virtually eliminating general fund support for services and prevention. The committee's plan would cut $33.5 million in AIDS money, most of which would be made up by a fund that collects rebates on AIDS medications. The remaining $10 million cut would be taken from HIV surveillance, education, and prevention efforts. Courtney Mulhern-Pearson, policy and legislation associate for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, responded, "As an advocate, I never want to see cuts, but given what we were facing a month ago, we're very encouraged by this decision."

Back to other news for June 2009

Search the Newsroom archive