1989-1991 State Budget

ARCW proposed and lobbied for the Wisconsin AIDS Initiative, a proposal that for the first time would provide state funding to support HIV/AIDS patients through a statewide centralized case management system called Life Care Services. ARCW won bipartisan support for the proposal.

ARCW won support for a $150,000 grant to the Wisconsin AIDS Research Consortium for HIV clinical drug trial research, and for an increase in Life Care Services funding to $1.8 million. To increase the effectiveness of AIDS advocacy, ARCW formed the Wisconsin AIDS Response Network (WARN) comprised of all AIDS Service Organizations in the state.

ARCW worked with the Secretary of the Department of Health Services and the Governor to establish new funding in the state budget for early medical intervention services for HIV patients. $680,000 was approved for AIDS Service Organizations to provide physical health assessments, mental health screenings and laboratory testing. This was the first health care-related funding from the state for AIDS Service Organizations. ARCW lobbied for and won an increase of $420,000 in Life Care Services funding. In total, AIDS funding in this state budget increased by $1.1 million and the Life Care Services biennial funding rose to a total of $2.4 million, double the amount initially set for the program in the 1989-1991 state budget.

In the 1995-1997 biennial state budget, ARCW lobbied successfully to avoid cuts to AIDS funding and with strong bi-partisan support won a surprising unanimous vote on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to increase Life Care Services funding by $223,000 or 7%.

In 1997, ARCW expanded the WARN system to involve citizen advocates from throughout the state. It created AIDS Action Wisconsin and urged concerned citizens to join in advocating for responsive AIDS policies. These advocates were very helpful to ARCW as it lobbied for and won AIDS funding increases in the 1997-1999 biennial budget.

In 1999, ARCW held the first AIDS lobby day at the State Capitol with 123 AIDS Action Wisconsin advocates participating. Their advocacy helped ARCW win support for a $300,000 increase in state prevention funding and a $200,000 increase in Life Care Services funding in the 1999-2001 biennial budget.