The Bay Area Reporter - July 9, 2000
Terry Beswick

Most of the money "blue-penciled" out of the budget was said to represent pork, or pet project spending put in by legislators for local projects in their districts.

Some members of the Legislature, however, still brought home a lot of bacon.

Noting a $12.7 million jump in spending for HIV/AIDS services and programs, Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) expressed satisfaction with the budget, calling the final numbers "balanced and pleasing results, with a lot of things for San Francisco."

With tax revenue from the booming economy filling the state's coffers, the Legislature and governor were able to avoid much visible political angst. Still, the new budget represents a total increase in spending of $12.7 billion over the current year and also manages to provide $3.2 billion in tax cuts over the next two fiscal years, while maintaining an anticipated budget surplus of well over $10 billion.

The state will spend $325 million to fight AIDS in the next fiscal year, Davis said. This includes federal funding, and represents about $5 million more than he had proposed to the Legislature in May.

"This provides significant resources to fight the spread of the disease," stated the governor.

A member of the Assembly and Senate Conference Committee that finalized the budget sent to the governor, Migden said that Davis maintained "whatever I had my eye on - and again, there's a billion dollars cut out - but he left health services largely intact."

Migden acknowledged that the governor vetoed $7 million of a $20 million increase for HIV/AIDS that the Legislature had put into the budget, but focused on the positive, noting in particular that the governor kept $2.8 million in the budget to create a non-name based HIV reporting system based on a series of unique identifiers.

Migden called this "one of the most important items of the budget. We need to change how we track the epidemic, but it must be done in a way that does not prevent people who are most at risk from being tested.

"Moreover, if Congress adopts a federal funding formula that is based on the number of HIV cases, we will have a mechanism to provide those numbers and prevent the loss of millions of dollars California currently receives," Migden added.

Last year, citing a lack of adequate funding, Davis vetoed Migden's bill that would have instituted an HIV reporting system.

"After years of fighting for the enactment of such a system in our state," commented Fred Dillon, public policy director for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, "we are thrilled that the governor has approved this funding request and strongly praise his action on this issue."

After the governor made a few cuts to the budget, there was $6 million less designated for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs targeting communities of color, leaving just $2 million for these programs, and $1 million cut from HIV partner counseling and referral services. In his veto message, Davis said the budget already included $3.7 million for outreach programs.

"Although this is unfortunate news, we are extremely pleased that the governor maintained the $2.8 million for non-name based HIV reporting and $2 million of the funding for communities of color," Dillon said.

Migden's office also noted the following AIDS-related line items were retained in the final budget:

* $2.4 million for HIV resistance testing that will help doctors tailor the best course of antiviral therapy for their patients;

* $2.2 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program;

* $1 million for the HIV organ transplant project at the University of California, San Francisco Center for AIDS Prevention Studies;

* $1.25 million for the UCSF AIDS Research Institute;

* $500,000 for the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco;

* $400,000 for the AIDS Memorial Wall in Los Angeles;

* $250,000 for an "HIV/AIDS reentry and empowerment project" at New College of San Francisco.

Thom Weyand, executive director of the AIDS grove, said that the half-million dollars will be used to finish the grove with what he called a "Crossroads Circle," which he described as "another circular feature" and to meet federal disability access requirements as well as pay for some accessibility work that has already been done at the site.

Weyand said that the grove's funding came from the state Park and Recreation program.
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