California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the 2010 state budget on Friday, October 8, but used his line-item veto power to cut $52 million for HIV/AIDS programs, KABC reports. The loss was part of larger cuts totaling nearly $1 billion. The money was going to restore some of the almost $85 million Schwarzenegger cut from HIV/AIDS programs in 2009. “With the funding restoration, the governor had a second chance to do the right thing,” said Craig E. Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), in an APLA statement. “Unfortunately, his legacy will be marred by his failure to sustain more than a decade of progress in fighting AIDS in California.”

To read the KABC article, click here.

To read the APLA statement, click here.