The Assembly Health Committee is marking World AIDS Day with a hearing on state funding levels for AIDS treatment and prevention programs.
The hearing, set to begin at 10:30 a.m. in Los Angeles, is a response to deep budget cuts to AIDS programs in the state, which has reported about 154,000 AIDS cases since the epidemic began. State funding for California's Department of Public Health's Office of AIDS was slashed by about $85 million in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
As we noted in yesterday's AM Alert, that hearing isn't the only bit of legislative action down in the City of Angels today.
The Senate Transportation and Housing Committee is holding its second hearing on California's carpool lanes. After hearing several weeks ago about whether the "High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes" program is meeting its objective, lawmakers will hear testimony in Los Angeles on new ideas for improving the effectiveness of the lanes and lowering traffic congestion.
ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver are honoring the 13 Californians they've selected for the California Hall of Fame. Among the inductees are the late San Francisco City Supervisor and gay-rights icon Harvey Milk, filmmaker George Lucas , the late former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Hiram Johnson and Schwarzenegger's longtime body-building buddy Joe Weider. Click here to see a full list of this year's hall of famers. The ceremony also marks the opening of an exhibit with mementos from the honorees.
RECALL WATCH: Today's the deadline for election officials in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties to report a raw count of signatures submitted by recall proponents seeking to oust Republican Sen. Bob Huff.
Recall organizers are targeting the Diamond Bar Republican for his support of Proposition 1A.
Proponents had to turn in at least 65,535 valid voter signatures from Senate District 29 by Nov. 16 to spark a recall election.
BIRTHDAY: A belated happy birthday to Assemblyman Sandré Swanson. The Alameda Democrat turned 61 on Saturday.
Latest posts:
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.