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AIDS activists call governor’s funding cut 'regressive' policy
By: Julie Small, KPCC 98.3 FM Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA - July 30, 2009
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.
- KPCC 98.3 FM Los Angeles
http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/07/28/aids-activists-call-governors-funding-cut-regressi/
