Newsom Signs Budget Maintaining Funds for Public Health Programs
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday signed a $5.3 billion budget that will "keep most public health programs whole," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. After restoring $23 million in cuts Newsom included in his original budget proposal, the board of supervisors voted unanimously to approve the budget (Gordon, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/5).
The board last month voted to restore an additional $1 million in funding for AIDS-related projects; $11 million for capital-improvement projects, including the construction of a new skilled nursing facility for San Francisco General Hospital; and $500,000 to maintain the workers' compensation clinic.
In addition, the board rejected plans to require some low-income residents who use the city's public hospitals and health centers to pay more for prescription medications. The board voted to use some of the budget's $25 million reserve to fully fund the prescription drug program at a cost of $739,250 (California Healthline, 7/20).