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MAP Advocate
HIV Advocacy Update
February 14, 2005
Vol. 11, No. 3
In This Issue:
Take Action! New or Old - Find Out Where Your
Legislator Stands on Sex Ed
It's an easy call or email to make. Simply contact your State Senator
and Rep to let them know you support comprehensive sexual health education
in Minnesota's schools and to ask if they also support comp sex ed in
the schools. So you already know where your legislators stand. That's
okay. They still need to get a call from you to stay on their political
radar screen. But, there are also a lot of new faces at the State Capitol.
If they don't hear from you, they won't know. So, set aside five minutes
to make your phone call or click your email. Visit the "Talk to Lawmakers"
page on the MAP Public Policy Web Page to find out who represents you
and how to contact them.
Emergency Funding Requested to Address Emerging
African Epidemic
Sen. Scott Dibble [DFL-Mpls] and Rep. Karen Clark [DFL-Mpls] have introduced
legislation requesting a special appropriation of $300,000 over the next
two years to boost general education and awareness education about HIV
in Minnesota's African communities. The legislative proposal was discussed
at a community roundtable of African health advocates and state lawmakers
who support the call for increased funding. The event marked National
Black HIV Awareness Day. Co-authors of the legislation include: Sens.
Pappas [DFL - StP], Moua [DFL - StP], Kiscaden [I - Rochester], Senjem
[R - Rochester] and Reps. Walker [DFL - Mpls], Ellison [DFL - Mpls], Kelliher
[DFL - Mpls], Liebling [DFL - Rochester] and twenty-five additional House
co-authors. Despite the high need for increased funding, "no new
taxes" budget restrictions pose a significant barrier to securing
the proposed funding. The Senate bill is SF968. A bill number will soon
be assigned in the House. Read more in the Pioneer Press.
"No New Taxes" Governance Undermines
HIV Prevention, Care and Services
The budget proposal for the next two years recently released by the Governor
recommends flat-funding for HIV prevention and the state HIV insurance
and drug assistance program. Given increased demand and cost, the proposal
represents a continued retrenchment in the state's commitment to HIV prevention
and care. The plan also includes additional cuts in state health programs
for low income persons, particularly single individuals. When similar
cuts were made as part of the 2003 "no new taxes" budget, persons
living with HIV who were affected ended up turning to the HIV insurance
and drug assistance program. The result was to cause that program to "crash."
Rather than recommending the funding needed to sustain the HIV insurance
and drug assistance program, the Governor's budget recommendation has
state administrators scrambling to come up with a plan for managing a
waiting list process for rationing access to HIV drugs and health services.
MAP is working on a legislative proposal that would address the budget
gap and change guidelines for the state's HIV insurance and drug assistance
program and plans to introduce the legislation later this month.
McCollum Introduces Bill to Increase Federal
Sex Ed Funding
Congresswoman Betty McCollum [DFL - 4th District] is one of the original
authors of the Responsible Education About Life Act [REAL], a bill that
would provide $206 million annually to states for comprehensive sexuality
education that is age-appropriate, medically accurate, and stresses abstinence
while also educating young people about contraception. The plan offers
an alternative to administration proposals to increased funding for abstinence-only
programs that have not been shown to work. Read more about REAL .
Federal Budget Proposal: Further Retreat in the
Fight Against AIDS
Cuts in HIV prevention and Ryan White CARE Act funding, flat-funding the
for the Minority AIDS Initiative, cuts in Community Development Block
Grant funds that cities use for programs such as low income housing, community
clinics or HIV prevention, caps on Medicaid funding which pays for most
of the health care for low income persons with HIV, and cuts in HOPWA
and other low income housing programs. That's what is in the federal budget
proposal just released by the administration. "The President would
have the most vulnerable Americans bear the brunt of his priorities to
make permanent tax cuts for the wealthy and the continuation of a $280
billion war in Iraq," says Terje Anderson, executive director of
the National Association of People with AIDS [NAPWA]. Read more about
the proposed budget at NAPWA.
National Debate on HIV Prevention Raises Questions
about Priorities
A recent study released in the New England Journal of Medicine called
for HIV screening to be a routine part of health care as part of an effort
to help more people learn their status. However, without clearly distinguishing
between "screening" and actually "testing" for HIV,
a media and political clamor for universal HIV testing seems to be taking
hold. Along with that is a call for tougher partner-notification in response
to reports out of New York City of an individual with a drug-resistant
strain of HIV. While the call for universal HIV testing and more rigid
partner-notification programs is growing, we are reminded of the fact
that funding for HIV prevention continues to be cut, the pressure continues
to restrict the content of effective HIV prevention messages to fit into
an anti-gay and abstinence-only mindset, and access to health care for
persons living with HIV is also being cut. Testing is important, but is
"testing alone" an adequate national strategy for stopping HIV?
What about HIV prevention education and ensuring access to HIV health
care?
Your Oscar Ticket Supports Our Capitol Work
MAP public policy depends upon you buying tickets for MAP's annual Hollywood
Oscars party. Oscar Night on Ice: The Oldest and the Coldest Academy Awards
party in America. And when you buy a ticket, you make it possible for
MAP public policy to do its work at the State Capitol. In addition to
benefiting MAP, our Oscar Night on Ice supports District 202. Buy tickets
at http://www.hollywoodevent.org/.
MAP Advocate is published by the Minnesota AIDS Project every two weeks while the Minnesota Legislature is in session, and monthly during the rest of the year. It is available through the MAP Web site and through email list service. If you wish to order the MAP Advocate, visit our Join the Action Network page, or contact MAP Public Policy by phone or email.
MAP Public Policy
Minnesota AIDS Project
1400 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55404
612-341-2060
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Friday, March 30, 2007
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