California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made further cuts to HIV/AIDS services in the state’s revised budget using his line-item veto power, The Advocate reports. He also made deep cuts in programs for children and senior citizens.
According to the article, the governor’s office stated that cuts to HIV/AIDS programs would total $52 million. However, the California Department of Public Health’s Office of AIDS stated that total cuts might be as high as $85 million.
Phil Curtis, the director of government affairs for AIDS Project Los Angeles, said that services such as home health care for people living with HIV was among many of the programs at risk.
“This is a public health disaster for the state of California,” Curtis said.
Michelle Roland, chief of the Office of AIDS, said that some programs will get just one fifth the funding they had last year. How her office will allocate the remaining funds is as yet undetermined.
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