D South San Francisco

A bill to create a statewide program promoting early medical intervention against the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus has been introduced by Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-South San Francisco). The bill, AB 1600, would create a package of services--including clinical monitoring, psycho-social support and, when appropriate, medical treatment--for the up to 200,000 Californians infected with the virus but not yet sick. Medical research has shown that the most common opportunistic infection associated with AIDS, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, can be prevented with the administration of a drug known as aerosolized pentamidine.

California's small-business owners may have a tougher time being heard in Sacramento after the demise last week of the legislative subcommittees serving small-business interests. Both the Senate and Assembly small-business select committees fell victim to budget cuts forced by the passage of Proposition 140. Proposition 140, sponsored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, calls for the cuts of up to 48% in the Assembly and Senate's $219-million operating budget.

State agencies would have to remain open to serve the public during the lunch hour under a bill (AB 3167) by Assemblyman Jackie Speier (D-South San Francisco) that swept through the lower house on a 67-0 vote. Speier charged that scores of state offices from San Diego to Crescent City now shut down at high noon Monday through Friday. "Answering machines are activated, doors are locked and public service takes a break," she said.

An Assembly committee narrowly approved a hotly disputed bill Wednesday to outlaw job discrimination against homosexuals similar to legislation vetoed last year by Gov. Pete Wilson. The governor's rejection caused thousands of gays and lesbians to take to the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, accusing Wilson of bowing to political pressure.

The debate over abortion in this country has been described as the politics of symbolism. The symbols invoked are powerful and jarring: aborted fetuses, bloody coat hangers and chanting protesters who block public access to medical clinics.

Drugs, alcohol and pregnancy can be a damaging, if not deadly, combination. By conservative estimate, cocaine use alone during pregnancy harms 12,000 babies a year in California. Yet few hospitals have programs to treat an expectant mother's addiction or the money to pay for the expensive care that drug babies require after birth. Two pending bills sponsored by Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-South San Francisco) could help the state meet the growing problem of such infants. One, AB 741, would establish pilot treatment programs in six counties and declare the state's intent to extend these programs statewide in future years.