State Affairs

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation plays a leadership role in ensuring that the State of California provides a comprehensive and effective response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Together with key advocacy partners from throughout the state, the AIDS Foundation assures that the Governor and Legislature provide state funding to augment federal support of essential HIV prevention and care efforts. The Public Policy Department sponsors and responds to state legislation [17K, 4-page PDF] that affects the health and civil rights of people living with or at risk for HIV. The Department also monitors key state programs such as Medi-Cal to assure that an appropriate health safety net exists that meets the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.

In recent years, we have been particularly focused on ensuring full funding of the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which assures access to life-saving HIV medications for over 31,000 low-income Californians. As a result of these efforts, California has contributed heavily with its own dollars to assure ADAP is available for all who are eligible for the program. The ADAP budget has increased substantially each year to meet rising demand for HIV medications.Today, California's ADAP is nearly a $300 million program.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation has been a leader in developing state laws to provide access to sterile syringes, a proven method for reducing the transmission of HIV and hepatitis to injection drug users, their sexual partners and children. The Foundation helped secure passage of legislation permitting cities and counties to establish syringe exchange programs (enacted in 1999) and legislation that permits cities and counties to authorize the sale of syringes to adults without a prescription at pharmacies (enacted in 2004).

The agency also works to assure the highest levels of state funding for HIV prevention programs, and is a leader in the effort to increase state and local funding to address the role of methamphetamine use in the transmission of HIV infection.

The AIDS Foundation has also been active in the development of state policy regarding the reporting to local and state health officials of people in California who are HIV-positive.