Senate Committee OKs Tax Credit for AIDS Donations

Legislation designed to raise millions of dollars for AIDS research by giving taxpayers an income tax credit for donations to a special AIDS fund was approved Wednesday by the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.

At the same time, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved a separate provision to eliminate the requirement that doctors obtain patients’ written consent before testing them for exposure to the AIDS virus. Instead, doctors would be required to explain the test and obtain the patient’s oral permission.

The change in the testing procedure was amended into a controversial measure, narrowly approved by the committee, that would protect AIDS patients from discrimination and create a commission to set state policy for combatting the disease.

The bills are among dozens of measures under consideration by the Legislature to cope with the AIDS epidemic before the lawmakers adjourn in mid-September.

The tax credit bill by Assemblyman Johan Klehs (D-San Leandro), approved by the Revenue and Taxation Committee on a 5-0 vote, would raise $61 million a year for two years if 10% of the state’s taxpayers contributed to the proposed AIDS research trust fund, backers of the bill estimate.

Originally proposed by state Controller Gray Davis, the bill would give taxpayers a credit of 55% of their contribution, with a credit limit of $25 for individuals, $50 for couples and $5,000 for corporations.

A second bill by Klehs that would set up a commission to allocate the money, thereby avoiding the state’s normal grant procedure, was approved by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee by a 6-1 vote.

Bruce Decker, chairman of the California AIDS Advisory Committee, said the two-bill package was “the single most important piece of AIDS legislation we have seen in this state, perhaps in the nation. It empowers us to get above the political fray and fund AIDS research, which will ultimately cure the problem.”

The tax credit proposal would have the added advantage of circumventing the state’s constitutional spending limit by diverting money to AIDS research without ever collecting it as taxes.

Controller Davis, calling AIDS a “genuine medical emergency,” told the Revenue and Taxation Committee, “We feel this is such a threat that we need to enlist private as well as public resources.”

Among the states, California is already a leader in financing AIDS research and will spend about $16 million to support efforts to find a cure or vaccine for the disease, according to Gov. George Deukmejian’s Finance Department.

A spokesman for the department told the committee that it opposes the measure because it would cost the state revenue that could be spent on other programs. If the AIDS fund received $61 million, for example, the state would lose about $33 million in revenue.

However, Decker, Deukmejian’s appointee to the task force, said that far more money is needed to develop a cure for AIDS and expressed confidence that Deukmejian can be persuaded to sign the legislation.

“I think it will be extremely difficult for anyone on either side of the aisle to oppose more money for research,” said Decker, a Republican who has tested positive for exposure to the AIDS virus.

In a separate action, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 5 to 2 to approve a bill by Assemblyman Art Agnos (D-San Francisco) that would adopt many of the recommendations of U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and create a state AIDS commission.

One of the measure’s more controversial provisions would write into the law a Deukmejian Administration policy that prohibits discrimination against AIDS patients in housing and employment.

At the request of the California Medical Assn., Agnos agreed to amend the bill to eliminate the requirement that doctors obtain patients’ written consent before administering the test for exposure to the AIDS virus.

A 1985 state law authored by Agnos that requires strict confidentiality for the results of AIDS tests has been under attack in the Legislature by conservative politicians.

But Agnos, a longtime legislative spokesman for the gay community, insisted that elimination of the written consent requirement would not weaken protections for AIDS patients.

Under his bill, doctors would still be required to discuss the blood test with a patient before it is administered.