AIDS activists call governor™s funding cut ‘regressive’ policy

By Aids Healthcare Foundation
07/30/2009
Los Angeles, California

Today, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a package of bills to fix the state budget deficit. But before he did, he cuts an additional half-a-billion from the budget. That’s because the budget the legislature passed last week left the state with no cash reserve. Schwarzenegger said that forced him to make some “ugly” cuts – and he says one of the ugliest was a cut to the state’s Office of AIDS. KPCC’s Julie Small has the story.

 

Julie Small: AIDS activists have praised the governor in the past. Michael Weinstein said not anymore.

Michael Weinstein: The governor has done a lot of progressive things on AIDS prevention in the past, but he wiped it out with his “blue line” pencil.

Small: Weinstein is the President of the non-profit AIDS Healthcare Foundation. He called the Governor’s $50 million cut to the state’s Office of AIDS Prevention and Treatment “regressive.”

Weinstein: Y’know, it’s taken almost three decades to build a structure capable of controlling HIV-AIDS in California – and now we’re tearing it apart.

Small: The Governor’s cuts won’t take money away from AIDS drugs, but Weinstein says paying for treatment while gutting prevention makes no sense. Every year an estimated 8,000 Californians contract HIV-AIDS at a cost of $600,000 a person for a lifetime of treatment. Michael Weinstein says California will bear most of that cost.