The State Senate today approved SB 699, a bill by Senator Nell Soto (D –Pomona) to help California maintain its share of federal funding for HIV and AIDS services. The bill, which now heads to the Assembly, is needed to ensure that the state receives its full share of federal funds under the “Ryan White CARE Act.”

California received more than $223 million in CARE funds in 2005, but absent the changes called for in Soto’s bill the state is at risk of losing untold millions of dollars, possibly by late 2006.

In a letter sent August 16, 2004 to members of Congress, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control, stated that "rapid implementation of a scientifically accurate and equitable system of national HIV reporting can only occur with the adoption of a standard system of patient identification that will be used by all states" and that "the most validated and easily implemented of these identifiers is the name of the person diagnosed with HIV infection." 

Dr. Gerberding added that "CDC's policy is to accept only HIV infection and AIDS case surveillance data from those areas conducting confidential name-based reporting because name-based reporting has been evaluated and has historically achieved high levels of accuracy and reliability." 

Under the Ryan White CARE Act Reauthorization of 2000, funding grants to states for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2005 and beyond are to be based upon reported cases of HIV disease rather than reported cases of AIDS.  The reauthorization also provides that the data upon which funding grants are predicated must be "sufficiently accurate and reliable."

 “Beginning October 2006, Ryan White Care Act funds will be distributed on the basis of HIV cases – not AIDS cases alone – because HIV cases offer a more accurate picture of the epidemic,” Soto says. “Unless we pass SB 699, California stands to lose millions of these dollars.”

“We can’t afford to lose any HIV/AIDS funding,” says Senator Sheila Kuehl (D – Santa Monica), one of the bill’s principal co-authors. “More people than ever are currently  living with HIV/AIDS, and there are also more people with HIV/AIDS who don’t have private health care coverage and who may not be eligible for Medi-Cal.

“We need to make sure California continues to receive all the federal funds we so desperately need to help care for the uninsured,” Kuehl adds.

In 24 years of reporting AIDS cases by name, there has never been a breach of confidentiality in California. Nevertheless, Soto’s bill maintains anonymity of testing while increasing penalties for willful violations of patient privacy and confidentiality.

Due to the potential loss of badly needed federal dollars, SB 699 is an “urgency measure,” meaning it will take effect immediately once it is approved by the Legislature and then signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.