Final budget includes boosts for LGBT, HIV programs

The final state budget for Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) that was passed by the legislature on July 2 includes funding increases for every state LGBT program and for the state's HIV/AIDS budget line item.

The final version of the budget was drafted by a conference committee of House and Senate members who ironed out the differences in the budget bills passed by their respective chambers. LGBT advocates had two goals during the conference committee process: to convince the committee to adopt the HIV/AIDS funding level approved by the House, which was $500,000 higher than the Senate, and to adopt the LGBT youth programming budget passed by the Senate, which was $100,000 higher than the House. They succeeded on both fronts.

"In the end, we were optimistic throughout. ... It ultimately came down to prioritizing and making sure we showed from a community standpoint that our constituents and members care about these programs," said Matt McTighe, political director of MassEquality, one of the organizations pressing for the increases, along with the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus and Project ABLE (AIDS Budget Legislative Effort). Advocates and their allies on Beacon Hill succeeded in winning these increases during a tight budget session in which several areas of the budget received cuts.

The final budget contains increases for every LGBT-related program that receives state funding. For the Department of Public Health's (DPH) LGBT youth programs the legislature allocated $550,000, a $200,000 increase over the prior year. The Department of Primary and Secondary Education's (DESE) LGBT programs received $300,000, a $100,000 increase over FY08. The state funding for LGBT domestic violence programs increased from $250,000 in FY08 to $350,000 in FY09. Funding for the LGBT Aging Project rose from $60,000 in FY08 to $80,000 in FY09.

Eleni Carr, a vice-chair of the Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth and chair of the commission's government relations committee, said the commission would work with DPH and DESE to encourage them to direct the new funding towards programs addressing homelessness and youth violence as well as issues facing LGBT youth of color.

"We want to work in tandem with them so this initial $300,000 will have impact and will benefit youth in the Commonwealth," said Carr.

The budget also included major gains for the state's HIV/AIDS funding. The HIV/AIDS line item grew to $37.7 million, a $725,000 increase over the prior year. Within that new funding $500,000 is devoted towards addressing disparities in communities of color and other affected communities.

Mary Ann Hart, lobbyist for Project ABLE, credited conference committee members Rep. Marie St. Fleur (D-Dorchester) and Sen. Michael Knapik (R-Westfield) with helping ensure that the AIDS funding increase made it into the final budget. She said the $500,000 for communities of color will help expand prevention efforts and counseling and testing in those communities.

"DPH thinks they could do something very significant with that in communities of color and other communities that have high numbers, so we'll defer to DPH to see what they come up with and we'll be working on that as well," said Hart.

Monique Tula, director of strategic planning and public policy for AIDS Action Committee, said the increase in funds for HIV/AIDS is a good start but does not make up for the millions lost during massive budget cuts under former Gov. Jane Swift's administration.

"I think that's great, it's $500,000 more than we had, but really it's not enough, because the reality is the resources have not been restored since FY01," said Tula.

Tula said the one of the biggest gaps in funding is the lack of dollars devoted toward research. She said providers need to study the effectiveness of new outreach methods to find the most effective ways to target at-risk populations, including men who have sex with men and people of color.

MassEquality and other advocates originally sought much larger increases in all of the LGBT and HIV/AIDS related areas of the budget. McTighe said MassEquality would take a wait-and-see approach in deciding whether to seek additional funding via a supplemental budget request depending on whether it seems like such a request would be successful.

Gov. Deval Patrick has until the end of this week to either sign the budget or veto certain provisions.