Los Angeles, Calif., May 16, 2008 – AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's May budget revision, which maintains cuts to important programs serving Californians with HIV/AIDS that were first proposed in January.

State HIV/AIDS programs remain on the chopping block, including a proposal to to save $7 million by stripping the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) of a number of important medications. Although ADAP received an increase in the revision, the additional funding is slated to cover previously unaccounted new clients in 2008-2009. Drugs for AIDS-related wasting syndrome, along with anti-psychotics and hematological agents, would be removed from the ADAP formulary.

"The governor had the opportunity to move us forward, but this is a giant step back," said Craig E. Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles. "His May revision continues to slash health programs and services, which just digs a deeper hole for California's sickest and most vulnerable."

Other HIV/AIDS reductions include a $1.6 million cut to HIV prevention and education programs; a $400,000 decrease to the state's HIV epidemiological studies and surveillance programs, which could result in a decrease in case reporting and corresponding decrease in federal funding; and $300,000 in cuts to the California's Therapeutic Monitoring Program (TMP), which pays for viral load and drug resistance testing for ADAP beneficiaries.

Thompson also criticized the governor's plans to slash Medi-Cal provider rates and to cut Medi-Cal dental benefits for adults, which could leave millions of low-income beneficiaries without dental coverage.

"These health programs form the backbone of an essential support system for California's most vulnerable, including low-income people with AIDS," Thompson said. "Many of our clients depend on Medi-Cal to stay healthy and out of county emergency rooms. Cutting Medi-Cal means cutting off access to doctors, hospitals and specialists knowledgeable in HIV/AIDS.

"Taken together, these cuts will impact people with AIDS, from where they sleep at night to how they get their medications," Thompson continued. "Putting them and other vulnerable Californians at the end of the line is simply unacceptable."

California is second only to New York in the number of cumulative AIDS cases in the nation. In Los Angeles County alone, an estimated 60,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS.

"The governor has demonstrated that he's open to creative funding solutions," Thompson said, referring to a May revision proposal to establish a rainy day fund using future proceeds from the state lottery. "Why not find a way to apply that creativity to funding health programs for the poor? We as a state must not respond to crisis by abandoning the poor, the aged and the disabled."

AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. Marking 25 years of service in 2008, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.