This year, California Communities United Institute (CalComUI) tracked 10 HIV/AIDS related bills in the California legislature. Six of them were sent to the Governor and he signed all 6 of them. All six of those bills will take effect on January 1, 2012.

Here is the list of the bills that he signed:

- AB 289 Allows thrift stores, dedicated to providing funds for AIDS services agencies, to continue not charging sales tax on the items they sell.

AIDS services get very little financial support from the state of California nowadays. So, giving their thrift stores an exemption on charging sales tax is a good way to draw customers to the stores. That provides vital funding for the AIDS services organizations.

- AB 499 Allows children, aged 12 years old or older, to consent to medical care related to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

This will be very helpful for many homeless LGBT youth. Often the sex trade is the only way they can support themselves. That puts them at risk of getting HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases. Often they left home because of abuse at the hands of their parents. If they can only get the preventive care if care providers contact their parents for consent, many of those youth would not seek the care and would avoid care providers.

- AB 604 Allows the state to authorize clean needle exchange programs wherever conditions exist that are likely to lead to the rapid spread of HIV, Hepatitis, or other serious diseases that are spread by the sharing of dirty needles.

Currently needle exchange programs must be authorized by County Boards of Supervisors. And generally those boards must re-authorize them every few years. Opponents of needle exchange can exert immense political pressure on the elected Supervisors. As a result, in the past, it has been difficult, or impossible, to establish needle exchange programs where they are needed. AB 604 will take the politics out of what should be a purely medical decision.

- AB 673 Requires the State Office of Multicultural Health to create plans to close the gaps in health status and access to care among the state’s LGBT people.

Often the access of LGBT people to competent medical care is limited. Often care providers are not trained in treatment of the unique health conditions and care needs of LGBT people. This is probably most true for transgender people and people living with HIV and AIDS. Hopefully,

AB 673 will bring California’s medical industry up to speed on these issues.

- AB 1382 Allows HIV test counselors, who are currently authorized to administer HIV tests, to also perform two additional FDA-approved rapid tests. One of them tests for the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). The other test is a combined test for both HIV and HCV.

Just as with HIV, Hepatitis C is often transmitted through the sharing of dirty needles or through unprotected sex. A person infected with HIV has higher than average chance of being infected with Hepatitis C. So it is important for test counselors to test for both diseases. That way, in many cases, treatment can begin before either infection puts the patient at serious risk.

- SB 41 Allows people 18 years old or older to posses up to 30 hypodermic needles and syringes at a time.

This should reduce, considerably, the sharing of dirty needles among intravenous drug users. And that, hopefully, will reduce the spread of HIV and HCV.

You can see a list of all the HIV/AIDS bills, tracked by CalComUI, by directing your browser to the following address:

http://www.calcomui.org/pr3.html

Once there, you can see a full copy of any bill by clicking on the bill number and then clicking on “HTML” under “Bill Text”.

In the case of bills vetoed by the Governor, after clicking on the bill number, you can click on a link to the Governor’s veto message (at the bottom of the resulting page).

Bills marked “Chaptered” in the right column were signed by the Governor. “Vetoed” appears in the right column of bills vetoed by the Governor

Boyce Hinman

California Communities United Institute
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