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SENATE PREZ COMMENTS ON STATE’S FISCAL HEALTH, SPECULATIVE REVENUES
Senate President Therese Murray indicated this morning that the Senate would not go along with Gov. Deval Patrick’s effort to raise $600 million in corporate tax and casino revenues for fiscal 2009, saying she had “very real concerns about using revenue that we don’t have.” She said the timeline and uncertainty of the casino proposal made it difficult to stomach as a source of new revenue next fiscal year, but was more optimistic about corporate tax dollars and said some of the $297 million Patrick has proposed to generate could be used “in our budget in some way.” Murray said the “fiscal health of the Commonwealth, like every other state in the nation, is not very good,” and said a slew of Patrick’s proposals – including those on life sciences, casinos, and housing – demand action “sooner, not later,” with action on the governor’s housing bond bill “by March.” Addressing the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, Murray seemingly rejected Patrick’s budget gambit to use speculative revenues by saying the Legislature would not depend on anything other than concrete funds. “Things are going to be even tighter, as we try to balance the budget with the revenue we have in hand,” she said
HIV CASES RISING, ACTIVISTS SEEK FUNDING FOR EDUCATION, NEEDLE PROGRAMS
By Gintautas Dumcius
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JAN. 30, 2008….The number of people living with HIV is climbing in Massachusetts, with 1,000 new infections diagnosed every year, activists said Wednesday, while lobbying for increased funding for educational programs.
Activists with Project ABLE (AIDS Budget Legislative Effort) touted the figures in pushing for a $2 million increase in the budget from the state Department of Public Health, saying they need the funds to reach out to those who don’t know they have HIV.
“People who don’t know their status are driving new infections,” said Gary Daffin, executive director of the Multi-Cultural AIDS Coalition.
According to Project ABLE, between 22,000 to 24,000 residents are living with HIV/AIDS, with 17,000 diagnosed and an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 unaware they’re infected. African-Americans and Hispanics are particularly hard-hit, making up 12 percent of the state’s population but 50 percent of the epidemic, Daffin said.
The program helps direct individuals to counselors and support groups. “It helped me look HIV in the face,” said Andrea Williams, 46, of Dorchester. “Now I’m willing to live. It’s not a death sentence.”
The stigma accompanying HIV needs to be erased, said Williams, who was diagnosed 20 years ago.
Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget “essentially level-funds” their line item of $36.9 million, by increasing it to $37.1 million, which is down from $51.1 million in 2002, according to Mary Ann Hart, director of Project ABLE.
“We’re really behind the eight ball,” said Dr. Steve Boswell, CEO of Fenway Community Health.
Activists say the extra $2 million would help implement December recommendations from the Department of Public Health’s HIV/AIDS Bureau. The recommendations call for culturally-specific public information to build greater knowledge about risks, expanding the availability of needle and syringe programs in communities of color, and developing science-based prevention interventions that use the language and values of communities of color.
Lauren Smith, medical director at DPH, said HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment is “a very real priority for the department.”
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