Governor Signs Perinatal Health, AZT Drug Bills

Gov. George Deukmejian on Tuesday signed a $46-million bill to provide expanded perinatal health care for the working poor and an emergency $2.5-million measure to supply low-income AIDS patients with the treatment drug AZT.

The legislation was part of a nine-bill package the governor signed to restore $430 million that was cut from the $44-billion state budget earlier in the summer.

The budget restoration money will shore up dozens of prison, health, education and other programs that got caught in partisan fighting between the Republican governor and the Democratic Legislature. The dispute erupted after the discovery last spring that state544498040than expected over two years because of changes in state and federal tax laws.

“Shepherding this package through the Legislature was a major accomplishment for us this year,” Deukmejian said. “These measures allow us to complete the budget process, keep our commitment to California counties, and provide needed funds for our prisons, universities, tourism, health and social services.”

The perinatal bill--covering women during their pregnancy and immediately afterward--was widely regarded as the first major expansion in years of health care for low-income mothers and their infants. The measure was authored by Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach).

Under the bill, about 20,000 more women will be eligible for Medi-Cal assistance during their pregnancies and shortly after delivery. Termed the working poor, these women’s incomes are usually too high to qualify for Medi-Cal but too low for them to pay for obstetrical care themselves.

The bill was sponsored by the California Children’s Lobby and based on a report by the Southern California Child Health Network. The study found that nearly 36,000 women receive little or no prenatal care each year and that many of their babies are born with developmental disabilities, low birth weights and require increased hospitalization.

Under the bill, the federal government will pay half the cost of expanding perinatal services for the working poor while the state will pay the other half from both Medi-Cal funds already budgeted and projected savings in other health care programs.

In an effort to encourage more physicians to treat pregnant mothers on Medi-Cal, the bill also provides for a $3.3 million-a-year increase in the rates charged by obstetricians, a boost of 18%. Many physicians refuse to treat expectant Medi-Cal mothers because reimbursement rates fall short of meeting their costs.

Currently, Medi-Cal finances the perinatal care of about 120,000 women who are at 110% of the federal poverty level. Effective Jan. 1, the new law will extend the eligibility standard to 185% of the poverty level, which amounts to roughly $18,000 for a family of three.

The AZT funds bill resulted from the drying up of federal aid for AIDS patients who cannot afford the expensive drug azidothymidine, the only federally approved medication to reduce and, in some cases, arrest symptoms of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

When the federal funds ran short, the state Department of Health Services, which provides the drug to AIDS sufferers who meet a financial needs test, announced it will take no new applications after Oct. 1. It said available funds will run out by next April.

Stopgap State Funds

The bill, carried by Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) on behalf of the AIDS Project of Los Angeles, will provide $2.5 million in stopgap state funds until July 1. Margolin said this will give the federal government time to develop a permanent AZT financing policy.

Margolin said more than 700 AIDS patients in California receive AZT under the federal program. The medication can cost an individual $8,000 to $10,000 a year.

As for the budget restoration bills, Deukmejian basically got what he sought from the Legislature.

The biggest single appropriation totaled $206.5 million in extra state aid to counties to help finance the cost of trial courts and to create more than 100 new judgeships. In addition, the financially hard-pressed counties will receive $10 million in general financial aid.

Deukmejian signed the trial court financing bill on Saturday and the rest of the package on Tuesday.

The court finance program had originally been part of Deukmejian’s proposed state budget, but Democratic budget writers deleted the funds, along with expenditures for state prisons and some of Deukmejian’s pet projects, such as tourism promotion.

Democrats had used programs favored by Deukmejian as leverage to get him to support health, welfare and other programs the governor had cut from the budget as a result of the revenue shortfall.

Added Prison Funding

The package includes an additional $87 million for prisons and the California Youth Authority and $60 million more for the University of California and the California State University system.

Pet Deukmejian programs inserted back into the budget include $5.5 million for the Office of Tourism, $7 million for a competitive technology program and $700,000 to restore the budget of Resources Agency Secretary Gordon K. Van Vleck and his staff.

For its part, the Legislature won additional money for mental health, the Coastal Commission, student aid and Alzheimer’s disease programs.

In an unrelated action, Deukmejian vetoed a bill that would have expanded conflict-of-interest laws by requiring persons appointed to state posts to report income and gifts received during the 12 months preceding their appointments. The governor said he wanted to protect the privacy of public officials.

The bill, by Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim), also would have required such appointees to disclose all income received by a spouse.

Seymour had argued that an appointee could be improperly influenced by gifts or income provided to a spouse or received before an appointment became official, and that disclosure would discourage such a practice.

In his veto message, Deukmejian said he is “not convinced” that the public’s need for information about a spouse’s separate property outweighs the “privacy interests” of the individual or government’s need to attract highly qualified citizens to public service.