America Living With AIDS

Report Number Two:
Leadership, Legislation and Regulation
April 1990
1. The National Commission on AIDS will continue to recommend policy goals for a national
plan. However, the Commission believes it is essential that a federal interagency mechanism be
in place to coordinate a national plan. In this way, those who are ultimately responsible for the
implementation will have an active role in its development.
2. Federal disaster relief or direct emergency relief is urgently needed to help states and localities
most seriously impacted to provide the HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services
now in short supply. The Commission strongly supports the efforts in Congress, now embodied in S.2240, to address this need. The resources simply must be provided now or we will pay
dearly later.
3. Housing is an absolutely vital component of any comprehensive effort to address the multiple
problems posed by HIV infection and AIDS. While the Commission recognizes that coordination between the state and local government, with input from community based organizations,
is essential to effectively respond to the homeless crisis, we also believe the federal government
must take the lead in providing the dollars needed to respond to this overwhelming, indeed
catastrophic, problem.
4. Government restrictions imposed on the use of education and prevention funds are seriously
impeding HIV control. They are clearly serving to prolong the HIV epidemic and should be
removed.
5. Because the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guarantees protection against discrimination for people with HIV infections and AIDS, the National Commission on AIDS strongly
urges the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the ADA in a swift and timely manner. State
and local governments should pass laws forbidding discrimination in areas not covered by the
ADA or other federal statutes.