This is the HIV Commission meeting on March 10th, 2026, at 6 .15 p .m.
Yeah, well, that's what I'm thinking. The best way to handle it is to hit back, you know, legal and similar terms.
Okay.
That's what I do.
All
right.
All right.
Welcome,
Chris.
All
right. Thank you. We'll go ahead and get started.
Okay.
Go ahead and do your roll call. Commissioner Antonevich, absent.
Commissioner
Baldwin.
Yes,
I'm not protected, and I represent people who have HIV and AIDS.
Commissioner Benton, absent. Vice Chairperson Bowman.
Here, representing persons with HIV. I have expertise in essential HIV health and medical services, and I have no conflicts.
Vice
Chairperson Clark.
Here,
representing those with expertise in supportive services for people living with HIV,
and
I have no conflicts of interest.
Commissioner
Connolly.
Here, representing
persons from disproportionately affected and historically underserved groups.
And
so... Such populations. —Since last week? —Subpopulations.
Our
problem
is
not doing well. Thank you. —You're welcome.
center.
Aye.
Representing persons with expertise in HIV 자신 and possible conflicts and we'll office that gets all money.
Commissioner Morse.
Here, representing persons living with or affected by HIV.
Commissioner
Plotker, absent. And Commissioner Sen. Present.
Here.
Representing members of the general public having an interest or expertise in supporting persons living with HIV, no conflict. Commissioner
Smart, absent. Commissioner Witt?
Here. Representing people living with HIV or AIDS, and I have no conflict.
Commissioner
Walter, absent. Commissioner Cuevas? Present.
Representing persons who have been supported, respected, and historically underprivileged, and I have no conflict. You
have a quorum. Okay, great. Yay! All right, we'll move on to item two. Any public comment? Yes,
we do. We
have a public comment? Has he left?
He left?
Okay. Okay, he left. Okay.
No
public comment. No public comment, okay. We'll move on to item three, approve consent calendar and changes to commission agenda.
We moved the committee reports to the consent calendar
in
lieu of having our retreat earlier in the day, but I'll need a motion on that. Second.
A motion. You're moving it? She'll move it. I'll move that. You second
it. Yep.
Moved by Commissioner Senn and seconded by Commissioner Durr. Commissioner Baldwin? Yes.
Vice
Chairperson Bowman? Yes. Vice Chairperson Blurk? Yes. Commissioner Connolly? Yes. Commissioner Durr? Aye. Commissioner Morse? Yes. Commissioner Senn? Yes. Commissioner Witt? Yes. Commissioner Cluvis? Yes. Approved. Okay,
great. Okay, item four, receive report from California Department of Public Health Office of AIDS relating to the 2027 to 2031 California Integrated Plan. I believe, is Leroy joining us for that? Okay. Hi,
Leroy. Hey,
Leroy. Hi, everybody. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Great. And I'm going to go ahead and share a slide deck and just do a kind of a brief presentation and then I'll leave some time for questions and answers as well at the end. I also have a few general updates from the, as your state Part B administrator representative as well, but I'll leave those to the end as well, or another part of the agenda if you like. So let me just go ahead and share the slide deck. Okay. Great.
So this presentation is an Integrated Plan update. So I'm going to talk about process and timeline. And I wanted to, of course, thank you all for being a part of our overall Integrated Plan, a family of counties and commissions, councils, and groups that co -authored our Integrated Plan. It was a little bit different. California, when we had our chance to do an Integrated Plan the last time, decided to do something different. We decided to address HIV, not only as a condition on its own, but with hepatitis C and STIs through a social determinants of health lens. So you've all seen this before. It's your Integrated Plan as well. This was your previous concurrence document. It's
a short, high -level, 30 -page document that talks about, that is kind of describes why we need to do a syndemic focus through a social determinants of health lens. This document describes the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic on our health. It describes at a high level six social determinants of health, and we arrayed 30 different interventions and strategies across racial equity, housing first, health access for all, mental health and substance use, economic justice, and stigma -free. All of this is review. You've seen this before. So it's, once again, time to revise this plan, and we've been working diligently on the revisions and the refresh of our plan. So this time, because of COVID -19.
Because of funding uncertainty. Because of, I will say, a chaotic policy environment and funding environment on the national level, we decided to update and refresh this plan, rather than to have a completely new plan. And because we think that investing in social determinants of health strategies is more of a long -term strategy in California, rather than a short -term strategy. So a little bit about the difference between the last plan, the plan that we're currently in now, from 2022 to 2026. And the new plan that we're developing. 2027 to 2031. So as I've said, our plan was brief and high -level. It was meant to be accessible to communities. It was meant to really communicate
the reason that we do social determinants of health work and syndemic work. So it's the why we do this work and the how at a high level. We also have an accompanying document that's here at the top of the slide.
Our
implementation blueprint. And Santa Clara. The Santa Clara Commission. The Santa Clara Commission. Did an implementation blueprint for your local TGA. Other jurisdictions did as well. It was not a mandate to do an implementation blueprint, but it was suggested as something that would help you all leverage our plan. And then we, you know, this, the whole purpose of our statewide plan is that we allow you to do the good work that you're doing already. We know that in your area, you were particularly focused on the health and social determinants. We're focused on addressing people who experience homelessness, substance use, mental health, and those are the things that we allow you to do
under
the umbrella of the social determinants of health plan. In the new plan, we are going to continue
this,
the framework of social determinants of health and the framework of syndemic work. We are going to, however, have an internal plan to California and an external plan to California. Because as you know. The policy environment has changed. All the things that still, the reasons why we focus on our priority populations in California have not gone away, but we're not able to say certain words, we're not able to suggest or talk about the work that we do in certain ways because of policy shifts at the national level. But the good thing about our strategy, this time, is that we, Dr. Mercer -Ross, who is the director of the Department of Health and Human Services, has shared
with you all in various forums that California's data, the way we describe our populations and the diversity of the syndemic in California will still be in force in California. So our websites have not changed. We're still using and doing all the data analyses and they'll still be present on our websites internal to California. We'll talk about the epidemic and all, using all the language that's necessary and all the appropriate priority populations that were listed in our Ending the Epidemics Plan are still priority populations in California. We are going to update the data. We're also going to add a particular priority population that's people living with HIV that are 50 years and older. And we're also
going to add a progress section to this yellow plan. Also, we're going to change the color, but it's going to be the color of the plan that's behind me as I'm presenting to you. Just to give it an update. And a refresh, but it is going to be the internal plan, the short plan is going to be the same as it was just with updated data and the few changes that I noted. We'll still have a process where you're going to be able to update your implementation blueprint if you so choose, but you will continue to do the great work that you're doing within Santa Clara County, because we know that the work that you
do has had some impact. Because in California, we've seen some progress, we've seen decreases among black African -American individuals in the state, we've seen decreases in HIV infection among people who have acquired HIV through
male
-to -male sexual contact, and there have been other changes and progress made for STIs and Hepatitis C. So all of those will be described in the plan that you're going to receive when you get it. I'm just going to also note that our priority populations are listed here, they're also listed in the plan. These priority populations will not change except for having people living with HIV that are 50 plus. We're updating some of the ways that we describe populations, like previously we said people who are incarcerated, that's going to be changed to people who are justice -involved. So it's not only incarcerated, but in the criminal justice system in some way or form. Your role
as a HIV planning commission, it also remains to be seen if you're going to receive a draft concurrence letter along with the other review materials. You have advised the implementation both through your deliberations at the CPG and through your deliberations at the CDC.
You've also helped monitor the plan by reviewing data and updates regularly from the Office of AIDS so that you know the Office of AIDS does a social determinants of health format to our OA voice. And we present data within that document that references the social determinants of health and that's done monthly. And we also
have
asked you to reference the plan in your planning and implementation activities throughout the year. It's actually one of the things that we've seen in many jurisdictions that justifies you all doing more supportive services when warranted within your jurisdiction. So the idea that core medical services. Only are effective if actually they get supported in some jurisdictions when the mix of core medical services to supportive services hasn't been the required percentages that HRSA requires. Waivers have been justified using the among other things, our integrated plan that talks about social determinants of health work. And this plan also continues or allows you to continue your ongoing development. And I'm excited to hear your discussion tonight about your HIV
prevention and care activities as a planning council, planning commission, excuse me. Some key action items
related
to this plan include, well, right now we're finishing writing up the plan. So we've retained Facente Consulting that's partnering with us on the refresh of our plan. We are incorporating the data from a prep gap analysis, the statewide gap analysis that's been going on. Over the course of the last year, that's going to be ongoing. And also we have, we're just doing general updates to the look of the plan. You're going to be receiving a packet for review in April, along with a Google form to fill out and to provide comments on the plan. And then in May, we're going to be doing a concurrence presentation, just outlining the changes that are in the plan.
And asking you to vote to concur or not with the plan and provide us a current concurrence letter. And then
we're going to
complete the final package and give it to your public health team in order to upload that for Santa Clara's local plan in your jurisdiction. So post the plan being submitted, we're going to have, we're going to begin other planning activities. Because this plan actually begins in January, 2027. We have several activities that are listed here. I'm not going to go with the interest of time to outline them, but all of these activities are being done by the CDPH office of aides and some of them to participate in. And this also leaves an opportunity for you all to do local implementation activities. The work that you do to continually connect to, to BLWH folks, to, to
your priority populations within your community. Your jurisdiction, your TGA, we take all that data at the state level and, and, and provide updates regularly to HRSA about how and what the progress that is happening across
the
jurisdictions within California that are our co -authors.
So that's the end of my quick update and I'll, I'd be happy to take questions, but so just to review, you will receive a review package in April. We'll distribute, distribute that through your website. Your, your planning commission staff and the instructions for review will be located within that. So I'm going to stop sharing now and ask if there are any questions that you have about the things that I just talked about. Oh yeah. Yes. First off, why are they changing the language? What's motivating them? Oh, so why is the language that we would normally submit to HRSA and CDC changed? Yeah. Rather than, so for an example,
the
two examples, actually, one is
DEI language
that includes language like health equity have, and there's, there have been no
formal
list of words that we're not able to submit to HRSA and CDC. It's all been done rather informally, but the, the citation of the policy letters that have declared that there are only two genders and that we're not able to do programs and services that reference or support DEI and some interpretations that HRSA has kicked back in language has been health equity, for example. Social determinants of health has changed to social, social drivers of health.
Why? Why? I understand.
Okay. That, I understand. Why are they doing this? Those. Because of the political climate. What does this help? Because of the political climate. It's the political climate. Okay. That's the answer to that. Yeah. Yeah. Do I get that all this stuff
is changing? It doesn't help anybody. And actually, it certainly doesn't help. Yeah. It certainly doesn't help us actually describe the epidemic and the pandemic within
California. Because someone said there's only a man and a woman.
Yes. And also DEI we can't use and yeah. How much is this costing?
Because if they had to change all the paperwork and they had to change all of the
programming
for everything that's programmed that you guys are taking information from and putting it
out. Yeah. So we're not changing our programs within California. We're developing this two
plan,
basically a sanitized plan that we're going to hand to HRSA and CDC because they simply are at this point not able to accept all of our data and all of the language that we use to describe the pandemic within California. And so it is a strategy that will not necessarily. Protect California from being targeted by, you know, excess scrutiny. But it is a strategy that allows the resistance and to be kind of elevated above HIV AIDS programs to the level of the governor and the attorney general where they're more suited to actually fighting and these policies more directly. Or to countering the policies more directly when they're not in the interest of the health and
safety of Californians, particularly those Californians who live with HIV. So this strategy allows you to continue the good work that you're doing to describe the diversity of the epidemic within your jurisdiction.
But
with this plan, it's not going to be the thing because it's going to be adhering to the language parameters, meaning that the public plan. The plan that's expected to be implemented within California. External to California will be done within the parameters that are set by the guidance that's laid out by HRSA and CDC. And I'll tell you this, that the first guidance that was released in December of 2024 under the previous administration did not change the language requirements.
It
was in the revised version that was done and released in March of 2025, where some of the changes were suggested. And we have to, and we are adhering to the changes in language and as a strategy.
So we're following federal regulations as a result of federal's empowerment.
Okay, that's the language I needed to hear. Because what you just said was a whole bunch of speech.
And
he probably can't say that. Exactly. That's why I needed to hear that broken down in a different way because a lot of this stuff is going to get way past our clients. And especially the people that are newly established. And I know that's where we're going to be working in this area in particular. We've got new organizations that are handling different caseloads. And some of them aren't quite up to what they're doing as it is.
And
this shift is going to make it even more difficult for them. And I'm just putting that out there so that it's not like a big surprise when some of these agencies kind of fall by the wayside or end up getting tripped up by this, because it's going to become a problem.
I
can see that already.
So you're not going to be changing the plan that you referenced within Santa Clara because you're going to be using the same plan that actually has all of the populations and priorities and data that you need to address HIV as you've been doing it for the last four years under the previous plan.
So
we're not going to put the external plan on our website.
We're
not going to actually reference it very much. It's basically an edited plan that doesn't describe the epidemic in all the ways that we need within California.
You
all are going to continue to do that. We're going to continue to use this plan, a plan that describes the epidemic in its entirety.
So
you're local and with the data that you need to actually address the syndemic within your jurisdiction.
That's
our strategy.
So
there's the plan that the feds get,
there's
the plan that we do.
I
would imagine that's twice as much work for y 'all,
for
everybody.
You don't see my gray hair,
and once
again, it is a strategy,
right? It's not like
something...
But
we're being very public with this. The community members and all the planning councils and commissions and groups are what we're doing. You're going to see these two versions of the plan that we're using,
and
what you're using internal to Santa Clara is going to continue to be this syndemic plan that we've grown to love and use, and that you leverage to do some really amazing work.
And
we hope that you continue to do that.
Well, you guys were really fast. I remember us discussing this at our last CBG meeting. Yeah. And what y 'all were going to do,
and you
were real quick in getting it done,
so
please move on that. Thank you. That was just recently.
Yep. Yeah.
So I'm happy to take other questions,
but a
lot of the...basically the instructions about how one would review the pretty minor changes that you all have as a group concurred with the basic structure of our syndemic plan before. So we just have a few changes
that
we're going to review.
So
it should be kind of a fair discussion. It should be fairly easy and quick review for you all.
The
one thing I'll say is this, that what...I don't...Commissioner that asked the question, what was your name? Bolton Crisford. Oh, I...so
the
things that you're raising are really important.
And
one of the things that jurisdictions external to California have done is to use the concurrence letter as a way to really talk about how some of these language and policy changes might be impacting
us,
right? And so I'm going to suggest that your concurrence letter is the place that you might actually give a little bit of critique about some of the policies if you choose, if it makes sense for you all to actually kind of call out some of the things that have been barriers to some of the policy changes that have happened. And that's what will be in the options of your concurrence letter when you get that as a review document. Okay. I'll make a note of that, so
we'll do that.
Yeah. So
Leroy, this is Carl.
Okay. Hi,
Carl. So what will the public -facing document be?
Which
one will be the public -facing document?
And
when the feds look at that public -facing document, will they be okay with the language?
Yeah.
So, you know, we'll have a...on our website that we will note, it will show that we have our syndemic plan. But once again, they will have received a document that actually meets their test for
and
we're going to have a lot of dead links within that document that don't kind of go to our website.
We'll
have a description of some of the data that...because they just, they can't accept it.
I
mean, it's...our project officer, probably your project officer as well, has had to push back certain language within the reports that we submit. So we're just making their work, their job easier because at this point, HRSA and CDC has had to shrink their ability to actually accept this information from us. And we're just adhering to that.
We
have some great advocates in the folks that work at HRSA and CDC.
They
have accepted and appreciated this syndemic plan in the last round.
And
we expect that we, you know, we're going to have to sit with them and take them through our plans. But they appreciated California's ongoing...and what we're going to be calling it is we're going to be focusing our efforts on...continuing to focus our efforts on social drivers of health,
which
is the phrase that this administration has used for social determinants of health and a variety of other things.
Instead
of health equity, we talk about population because of data that are our priorities. So there's just ways of using language that's different and coded. And it's annoying. And it takes more time. And it costs more money. But it's money that we're spending at the Office of AIDS in a central fashion so that you don't have to do that work and take it away because you would have to actually, you know, do this planning process and actually allocate some money from it locally in what we're trying to do, at least for jurisdictions, because you know that resources are a premium now. But we're trying to make this a more cost -effective way that we're addressing the
requirement for an integrated plan this round as well as last year...last round.
And you know how to do that better than we do or most other groups.
We're learning...we've learned a lot because we're constantly talking with other states about how they're addressing these same policies. And so we've just come from a national meeting where we met with several of the southern states. And New Mexico and Wyoming.
And
we talked about like how we were positioning
and
strategizing our work. We work with our national technical assistance provider that's also providing us suggestions about how we address their requirements. And also one of the things that's really odd is that you all know that national strategies and actually we can't call it national strategies any longer. We call them national goals. But the national strategies that were enforced through 2025. Where there are 13 indicators that gave us targets for 2025. Those haven't been revised for 2030. Only a few of them have. And so on HRSA's website and your project officer will tell you that those are forthcoming. But ideally we would have those before we would submit an integrated plan. And so what we're going
to have to do is roll over our integrated plan goals that will reference the 2025 goals. Because that's all we have at this point.
Must
say thank you so much for all that work and being on top of things. We're seeing in academia the same things happening. Grants canceled and trying to figure out how to write these things. Yes.
We do have like some tools that we've shared across the state. So we can provide those to you as well. Lists of words that are maybe easier to avoid if you're writing grants. These are not with the kind of firm recommendation. Because at this point, as we said, we haven't gotten sort of a language bank from HRSA or CDC about the words that were not to use based on changes in policy.
That's a chat GED. And so where are they expecting all this to go into effect? And though we didn't have to do it, we empathize with what you're telling us. Absolutely. Thank
you. Yeah.
Yeah. Did you, was there a question?
Chris. Chris wanted to know when all this is going to effect.
Right. So you'll receive a review package in April. And through April, you'll be providing comments on that. And then in May, we will ask, we'll do a conference presentation where we'll talk about the various changes and we'll ask you to vote to concur or not with the plan. And then we'll provide you the full package to upload or your public health team to upload. To CDC and HRSA in June. And then the new plan will be in effect in January of 2027. Okay.
So we got a little bit of time.
Yeah.
So somebody's going to have to sit down at a computer and type all of this into our system at some point?
The package is going to be given to you ready made. So you can just upload it to,
and
we did this last time too, but you'll upload it to your grant portal.
You'll
CC it to your program. We'll send it to the project officer and all of you by soon we'll get copies of it as well. And we'll certainly distribute copies of the plan. Although we'll say this, we also, is there anybody in your commission that prefers to read the document in Spanish?
We will provide Spanish language translation for the documents, but it's not going to be in the format of the plan.
We're
going to do a Spanish language version of that, but it's going to be after we do the submission in June.
So
that's forthcoming, but just wanted to give you a heads up.
Awesome
work.
Yep.
Onward and upwards.
Thank you so much,
Leroy.
There's a few other updates, but in the interest of time, I can provide those in writing. You're probably going to cover it during the course of your meeting, but I know that there's a place for accepting reports and I can provide updates at that point, but I'll stop presenting now so that you all can get on with the meeting. Thank you,
Leroy. Thank you, Leroy.
Okay.
We'll go ahead and move on to item five. Consider recommendations relating to the application. Commissioner, an alternate nomination to the Office of AIDS California Planning Group. Okay. This was brought to be our attention by Marcus. Marcus is our current representative, but his term is ending. Maybe. Well, possibly. His term is possibly up. We're trying to see if there's a way that he can continue. However, we still need to nominate a new person in the interest of... In case Marcus is not able to... They have their own kind of limits, term limits. For a little
context, we'll be voting on it in our meeting in May at the CBG meeting, but we're trying to vote on whether... Right now it reads it's a three -year term with a mandatory one -year break, and then you can move back for three years. We're trying to change it to the language where you can do two consecutive three -year terms, then take a one -year mandatory break. If we get that vote in, then I'll be fine. Thank you. I can do my three -year. If not, then I'll have to take a mandatory one -year break, and someone else will have to fill that position. When will they be doing that, Marcus? We're voting in May
to change the bylaws. When in May? Pardon? When in May?
May 12th, 13th, 14th, I believe it is, in Monterey.
When is your term officially ending?
May 31st.
May 31st. Oh, so this could all come in before the vote.
Okay.
So...
The term's used to this. It used to coincide with the Part B fiscal year, the CPG membership terms.
I think it would be, it was a little funky because I came in right when Claire was leaving or coming... That's what they were trying to figure out, too.
Was
I finishing her term, or was I... It wasn't my term.
So,
yeah. There was some confusion, but I think where we're at right now,
we're
just going to wait for the vote in May by the committee.
And
it looks like everyone's on board with it because we're going to have to wait for the vote to be in six years.
Three,
three, two, three -year terms, and then a one -year mandatory. Okay.
So,
but just in case, that's why it was brought up now, just in case we need someone else, at least nominated, who might be interested in doing it.
Okay. But
May 12th is actually the day of our next full commission meeting. Let me make sure about that. So... I mean, yeah. We'll be able to address that on the agenda for that one.
So
are we going to wait?
Oh,
yeah. May 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th is our conference.
Okay.
So when is our meeting in May?
12th.
12th.
12th.
So we probably won't know at our main meeting. Exactly.
Oh,
no.
We'll wait until the end of
July.
That's awful.
Because if we appoint somebody, they'll be appointed, and then Marcus won't have the option of doing the next three -year term.
Right. Well,
no. The action for today is just nominations.
We
just want to know if there's somebody who's interested.
And,
yeah. So we'll just receive nominations for now.
And
then I think we can... Okay. I think we can officially appoint a new person once we find out from them what their new bylaws will state in terms of term limits.
Yeah. We just wanted to identify someone now just in case I get the boot.
Hopefully
you don't.
And
do you want to give the commission kind of a synopsis of the time commitment, Marcus? Yeah, Marcus. Yeah. So that people know what they might be volunteering for?
Sure.
So one of the things that the biggest thing that we do as far as CGP folks, there's committees. I happen to be on the one that's writing the persons living with over 50. We're writing that up right now to be incorporated into that plan. So you have those meetings.
We
have conferences twice a year. One in Sacramento and one somewhere fun.
At
least that's what they try to do. And then... Yeah. There are regular monthly meetings.
There's
CPG meetings.
Then
the committee meetings. Much like here. Same setup.
So probably I would say if I had to put an hour or twice on it monthly, you're probably... You need maybe five hours a month towards the California planning group.
That
would be meetings and homework.
We
get homework for what we're writing up and agendas and stuff like that.
Okay. Thank
you. And are they virtual?
The
meeting?
The
outside of the conference. The committee meetings are virtual.
Okay.
The main meeting is in person.
Okay. The
twice a year? The twice a year. Twice a year. Yeah. Okay.
One
in Sacramento
and
then... This year it's in Monterey.
We'll
be in San Diego, Riverside. Trying to get them to Catalina Island.
We'll
see what happens.
If
anyone can, you can.
But
it is really interesting. I've gotten to see a lot of insights. I've gotten to see a lot of things. I've gotten to see a lot of insights on what CPH is doing and what they're doing. I mean, they do big things.
I
never realized how much they actually do. And to be a part of that now, just a small part of that, all the things that are going out California -wide, it's a lot of fun. We have a lot of input.
They really
value our input and the things that we bring back from our folks here and then also all the things I bring back from them.
So maybe this will give you an idea. I don't want my term to end. I really like it. So that's why I'm here. I just wanted to give you an idea. That's how much I like it.
But
yeah, it's a lot of fun and I do learn a lot.
The
other thing I might just add is that your travel, your expenses are paid. All of them are paid, yes. However, some of them you have to pay for
up
front and get reimbursed.
That
is correct, yes. But the travel is usually paid for and scheduled by whoever the vendor is that the Office of Aid uses.
At least Sacramento.
At
least Sacramento. Thank you. At least Sacramento.
Yes. And
we're staying at Monterey Plaza Hotel. So apparently money's not an object for them right now.
They get a deal.
I think it's $200 a night.
And you do have to be able to, like your meals, your meals will be reimbursed up to a certain expense. Like per diem. They have a limit of per diem on it.
There
is a per diem limit. But they also, they cater all of our meetings all day long.
I'm a
breakfast person. Lunch, snacks.
I
mean, it's more food than you can consume.
And
it is, I mean, I've never seen some of the spreads. Like how I said, they must have money because some of these spreads they've had are just unbelievable. But yeah, great food. You don't have to worry about anything.
They
take care of it all.
They
even plan activities, you know, for every city that we go to.
Do
they serve wine with dinner? No.
You can
have wine with dinner. This time they're sending us to - Priorities. They bought tickets for everyone to the apartment.
So
they do stuff like that.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. Biggie do we have like a description of the role and the commitment?
Do
we have something? We
had it one from the last time.
That
one is a appointment.
So
that is a few years old and I don't know when would change. But I also wanted to note, so it's written in the agenda of a nomination. But that is what the commission does .
So
the commission nominates a member and then the PCG actually opens it.
So
whatever nomination is made, that would be good knowledge. That was thesoft response.
And according to how it was when I was on, is that they don't, I mean you do have to make the application as such as a formality, but Office of AIDS and
TBG take
the, generally take the body's recommendation. Recommendation. Right, right. Yeah. I don't think they've ever said no to somebody who was, who was recommended by a body, by a planning counselor or a planning body. Yeah. Yeah, that's the Center for Health. Okay. If you want, I can read what their
website says of who we are, if that works. The California Planning Group, HIV,
STD, Hepatitis C, and Harm Reduction is the statewide HIV planning body convened by the California
Department
of Public Health Office of AIDS in collaboration with the Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch that enables key partners, communities, and providers to engage in active, ongoing dialogue to advise OA and STDCB community needs and gaps. And to reach the goals of any of the epidemics integrated statewide strategic plan. The main functions of CPG are to work collaboratively with OA to develop, implement, and revise a comprehensive HIV, STD, HCV surveillance, prevention, and care and treatment plan, which integrates with STD, HCV, and harm reduction. Provide feedback and suggestions for addressing emergent issues identified by CPG, OA, and other key partners. And committed to working openly as a group to make decisions and is guided by the principles
of equity, fairness, and respectful engagement.
Yeah. Beautiful.
What does harm reduction encompass in this format?
So
California, they're adopting the harm reduction practice and principles. And much of public health is going that route.
So there are certain principles that go along with harm reduction where it's about meeting the folks where they're at. It's a totally different plan than how public health normally, in the past, I thought. Public health in the past, unfortunately, used to think, well, I know what you need and this is what you're going to do to get better. Well, we realize that's not how it works. So now we go to our folks. We do different things. We use inclusive language. There's a lot of principles that we incorporate that, thankfully, public health and most folks are moving toward. Harm reduction works. It's not about what we want for our participants and patients. It's meeting them where
they're at and helping them out in their journey, wherever they're It's meeting them where they're at and helping them out in their journey, wherever they're pointing that journey is. What I like, for instance, in our program, when I tell my folks to stop doing drugs, yes, but my feelings are irrelevant. It doesn't matter what I want. I meet them where they're at. Where are they at in that stage of their journey? And I help them do that the safest way possible without judging, without stigma, and making them feel welcome. So that's basically kind of what I want to do. There's a lot more to it. But it's very helpful. It's very helpful to make their
lives safer. Yeah. That's all it's about. Just making their lives safer. And that's one of those things where they have the terminology, and I'm always afraid that when it's adopted by higher -ups that it leaves out components that people like you working on the ground are actually engaged in.
Well, I believe that it's actually gone up. So I think the harm reduction started with us folks on the ground, and it's growing to the upper chain of command because of that. It didn't come from... You know what? You can see anything about harm reduction on the White House's or NIH or CDC's website a few years ago, but you'll see all that now. Well, maybe not. Maybe not now. Maybe not. It
does come out of substance abuse in the future. Right. It started with...
Yeah, yeah. It started with... Alcohol and substance abuse. Yeah, alcohol and substance abuse. It was the needle exchange program. That's really where harm reduction evolved from, was the needle exchange program.
All right. Thank you. Thank you, Marcos. Great question. Great question.
Okay. So do we have any nominations? Anybody interested or...
I was thinking about David, if he was... No, he's shaking his hair. I have to think of somebody with a really clinical mind that can go to these things. I don't know who I had. I was given ketamine twice, and I have no memory.
Oh, no. Yes.
Isouf? Interest?
I thought I had ketamine. I'm just saying, I definitely would like to participate, but one thing is I'm constrained. What does that look like, the five hours? Is that throughout the whole month, or is
that... Throughout the whole month. So once a month, you're going to have at least one meeting online. You'll have what we call homework, some things to work on, and as far as whatever project we're going to run. Like I said, there's different committees. There's people living with HIV over 50. There is a youth committee. There's a women's committee, and so on. And then there's a... And those are once
a
month also. So the basic...
Much like our committee here, where there's a lot of offset committees so that you can join and participate in. And it's really up to you, but you are required at least one committee and then a CPG. So at least one hour a month online, and then the twice a year conference is usually three or four days somewhere. And then your homework. And they don't cater to online.
No, they don't. They don't.
We tried to get them to doordash to everyone that was online. But yeah.
We can talk offline if you want some more information on it.
My only question is, if we nominate the same person as I had, if we nominate and then we find out that, you know, Mark is cancer, what happens? The
recovery.
Well, we have it to nominate a commissioner and an alternate. Oh, I see. And an alternate. So what do you think? Can we re -nominate Marcus and then we can nominate an alternate? Yeah. Should that not... Or, you know... If you
want to change it, you'll have to un -nominate the person you nominate tonight for the primary position and then nominate Marcus.
As the alternative?
Well, no. You can't... If Marcus wants to continue and the commissioner wants him to continue in a position, you You would have to nominate him. Well, yeah. He would have to be nominated and then you would have two people and we would either vote between those two people or three people or whatever. And I'm not sure... I'm not sure what the rules say about... Do we have to have nine votes for the person that takes the... That takes that place? According to boards and commissions? Yeah.
Do we have
to have nine votes for one of the people or not? Or could it be like a five to four person with five votes? Yeah. Majority?
No. Simple majority? No. Oh, it's all... It has to be... The quorum of the meeting body has to say
yes. Otherwise it fails. No. To that one person? So, for example,
like if there's a... Yeah. So, both of them... So, boards and commissions, there's no neck to neck. Okay. So, let's say you first have commissioner A. Okay. Then we will have the vote. Okay. And either it passes or fails. Then we have commissioner B and the whole thing is repeated. So, if the commissioner A passes, we won't even vote commissioner B. Go to the B. Yeah.
Okay. And for it to pass, is it... Nine. All nine... Consensus. Nine is the quorum of your commission. Yeah. So... Okay. So, it can't be split vote. Like five people agree, four didn't. That fails. Ah.
And you can't do a primary recommendation and a backup.
So, yeah. That's what we... We have it on the agenda as nominating a commission and an alternate. So, how will that work?
Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was going to say. So, it would be one vote for both. For both of them. For a primary and an alternate. Great. And it would be one
vote. Yeah. And then if... And then come the vote for our meeting body. If I find out I can't do it, then I would have to step back and say, okay, can we go... That sounds like the best route. I know. It takes a while to get there, but we're there.
Yeah.
Does everybody... Any other questions? Carl, is that... Does that sound... I
didn't understand.
I guess we're going to vote for the primary and the backup at the same vote. Yeah.
For this. If you didn't say that, then you won't be...
Do we... Do we nominate Marcus? Are we going to nominate Marcus tonight? On a provisional basis? Because we don't know if he's eligible to have a second term in the position. Are we that far along? So, no, I
think... No, I'm not
talking about voting. I'm just talking about nominating him.
Yeah. So, we are going to nominate Marcus. This is my understanding. That's the primary. And then Hector says the alternate. And then Hector says the alternate. If you accept. If you accept. Yeah. Unless you want to be the primary. Yeah.
So... Yeah. Well, it depends. Yeah. So, you know, if the intention is for Marcus to fill the primary position... Right. If he's eligible... Allowed. Yeah. Then that's, you know, that's how we should nominate. Yeah. So, that's... But we may have to change that in perhaps June or July. Correct. Because we won't know by May. Yeah. Exactly. Right. All right. Let's do it.
Yeah. Let's nominate. So, on the motion is nominate Marcus as the primary. And
Hector says the second.
And Hector says the second. And Hector says the second. I'll accept it. I'll accept it. And Hector says the second. But we just thought you already... Are you okay with that, Hector? I'll accept your... Your nomination. Okay. Wonderful. I'm just noticing I get heard.
Do you want me to cut that out? Okay. So, we'll need a motion to... I think I... You just... Okay. For
only nominating.
Correct. Correct. Yes.
I'm trying to word it so that you don't need to go back to it. Okay. So, is it possible to say something like nobody nominated, like I thought, is good? to nominate Commissioner Durr as primary in the event of eligibility? I don't
think you would nominate him as the representative from this body to CPG.
And
then
nominate Jesus as the alternate representative.
Okay,
but the only reason I was doing this was, but in that event you were
saying we need to come back in case he's not eligible, right? Then automatically he becomes the president. He's saying that's not correct. He doesn't automatically become. You have to revisit it. Yeah, I guess so. So we'll put it on the agenda.
Yeah,
we'll take another vote. I'll actually vote. Got it. Yeah. Election. That's
true. And that's when somebody else might go, I want to do it. Yeah. And then there'll be two people. That's
fine. Yeah. That's probably not going to happen.
When we're ready to vote, then that's when we vote.
So this has to be voted on, right?
Yeah. Right now. So I have nominated Commissioner Durr as CPG member and Commissioner Cuevas as alternate.
Is
that correct? I would say
CPG representative.
Representative? Yes.
From
the commission. Because,
yeah.
That
way it doesn't fit into a box.
But it is a representative from this body to the CPG.
Okay.
So mover is Commissioner Sem.
Second.
And the speaker is?
Baldwin. Who's second? Chris.
Chris. Okay. Okay.
The second was? Chris.
Yes.
Commissioner Baldwin.
Commissioner
Baldwin? Yes.
Commissioner
Benton? Yes.
Vice
Chairperson Bowman? Yes. Chairperson Clerk? Yes.
Commissioner
Conley? Yes. Commissioner Durr? I have some reservations
about your primary, but I'll say yes.
Commissioner Morse? Yes.
Commissioner
Sem? Yes. Commissioner Witt? Yes.
And
Commissioner Cuevas?
Yes.
Yes.
It passes.
Wonderful. I would just like to thank everybody. Okay.
Yes,
you go ahead. Okay.
Wonderful. The only thing, and I don't know who communicates this, is be sure that the CPJ does not consider nominating actual appointees. Oh. Yeah. So they don't take this in the process. They
don't
take this in the process. Okay.
They
don't take this in the process. They don't take this in the process. Okay. All right.
So we'll move on to item six. Okay. Item six, the morning of the commission work plan for physical year July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 and accomplishments for physical year 2025 to 2026 to be submitted to the board on April 1st, 2026 and subsequently forwarded to the board of supervisors through the health and hospital committee. Okay. So if everybody can just have a look
at the activity plan. Yeah. this was supposed to be done in the retreat yeah unfortunately we looked at it an exact and then also during our bi -weekly
meetings my
understanding is for our purposes this plan has stayed pretty broad so that we can meet some of the requirements that we need to but also focus on some of our local priorities so we haven't really changed much I think there Vicki there was some towards the end a few of like the groups that we removed the getting to zero also I think the youth advisory I think the youth advisory I think the youth advisory committee just some of the things that were committee just some of the things that were committee just some of the things that were auxiliary that we no longer engage I auxiliary that we no longer engage I auxiliary that we no
longer engage I think the aging program we removed that think the aging program we removed that think the aging program we removed that because that's no longer active so it because that's no longer active so it because that's no longer active so it was more like a cleanup of in that way was more like a cleanup of in that way was more like a cleanup of in that way but we haven't really changed we
haven't but we haven't really changed we haven't but we haven't really changed we haven't really much to it yeah yeah the really much to it yeah yeah the activities and goals remain it's activities and goals
remain it's yeah reformat it for the county yes for
those purposes we also gave feedback last year so i think it's it looks similar yeah
okay
so if anyone has any to approve it
move
by commissioner first seconded by commissioner morse yes commissioner baldwin yes commissioner benton
yes vice
chairperson bowman yes chairperson fleur yes commissioner connolly yes commissioner dirk aye commissioner morse yes commissioner stem yes commissioner witt yes commissioner cuervas yes
approved wonderful thank you okay we'll move on to item seven discuss hiv commission goals relating to hiv care and prevention okay this item i think over the year we've been
discussing
commission goals and we've kind of zeroed in on testing
that's
something that everyone has testing hiv testing yes so i think if you recall we discussed commissioners being able to get trained as counselors we also discussed commissioners being equipped to go out with the public health team and be present at events
part
of our activities for the retreat was to receive a training
in
order to equip us to do that but unfortunately we haven't been able to do that also an update with the
counseling certification it is something that is still available but what we're learning is that there are a lot of staff that need to get certified and so that would kind of delay our
time
in terms of when commissioners could sign up for that it is more involved it's not just kind of the training that we would receive there's an hourly requirement there's a sign off from somebody in the department that would have to be monitoring your engagement and so it's it's quite a commitment it's not off the table but it's just to be aware that it's it's a bigger commitment than sitting for training so that is still available and i'm going to go ahead and start it off with the next session thank you so much for being here and i'm sure we'll get a chance to do a few more sessions in the coming weeks so if you
want to take a break or if you have any other questions or questions please feel free to send them in the chat or email us at hiv hiv information center at hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv hiv h to us it might just take us a little longer for that to happen so in the interim
Laura
with all her genius has kind of given us an alternative is something that we can do
to
continue with our interest in testing and that is to
for
the Commission to promote home testing so there's home testing kits available
the
Commission would kind of take some ownership over that we can design a campaign for ourselves and how we want to distribute these kits we can kind of think about how we want to make these
available at
events and give it more of a presence and so that was another activity that we were going to do at the retreat to kind of you know dream big and see what we would like to do so I want to kind of bring it now for discussion in terms of how we would like to move forward with that so Laura can you just kind of give us a little bit more of like concrete parameters and
then we can talk about yeah I don't know that we have them I mean I think also Harit is like
during
the training she can talk a little more about it home test kits come in a box that is like sort of self -contained so I think you all could really determine where that you all are here because you're members of the community or experts in this field Yeah. and so you all could determine what that looks like for you and I think we would just look for either use red and white funding or commission funding or something to purchase your test kits and you know we come up with some sort of plan let's say we keep them here locked away and you all are we're going to an event today we need 15 out of
our supply we pull them out for you you bring back the ones you don't use or you know I don't know we haven't we haven't broken it out yet but I think the flexibility with the home test kits
is
a big benefit compared to all of the setup that you just have to go through to get it done. So there's a lot of things that are required to do
the actual testing.
So if
this is the direction the Commission wants to go then between either like the prevention team or myself or you know Dr. Vaidya we can help you know look at whatever you put together and say this will work this might be too hot yeah I don't know yeah what the controls are.
What's the approximate cost of the home test kits? What are they now?
Approximately. A vital point of that. Thank you. Do you think we will still provide free HIV home test kits? I just like looked on their website and 100 % of it.
I've never
heard
of that before. Yeah. Again communication
is shit. But
that would be something that you all could promote as part of it. And I'll get back to you
about the cost.
And we could all make our commissioners could all make a request to that also to get
to
get them here you know here to order so you know we'll have a lot of us ordered them we'd
have 10 or 15 right there. You know I think somebody was like what if we hand it out. With information on like when you're ready for the next one here's how you get your free one from Take Me Home. Right? Yeah. Sort of that kind of engagement with people when you're out talking to folks is a little bit more interactive than I'm here to test you today and we have a protocol. Right. Yeah. It
also shares a much larger. Yes. Right. And it helps people connect to the things they can do to
ongoing continue to use that resource. I'm always dependent upon us
because a much larger group.
Yeah. And it would be nice. because ideally we
foresee working next to the sharp team so if they don't want to do testing that day then it would be an option for them to take the test home for them it would be a solid point for us
I
have a quick question
I'm
just kind of trying to think that the health center at school might be a good place to promote
if
I did want to do that with everybody's permission what would be the process
what
would I have to do I can answer that a little bit
is
it Mary I think her name is the director of the health center there
so
I've been in contact with her
she
wants us to come and do some events down there so it would just be a matter of going to our website on our what's it called
someone
help me
but the thing is Marcus if you guys are doing it then I don't
well
they actually had to make a request
so
I've already instructed her that she has to go through our website I see I see there's a to request services and outreach or training or whatever the case may be
I
told her whatever it is we'll do it for you so but I believe she's working with Ugo right now because
of that
so that was back when we were kind of combined I
was
doing sharp and harp but now I'm just doing harp
but actually I'm still a little bit confused if I may ask
sure
does it have to be event related
or
can it be like I have these flyers you can have them at the end of the day I can do it well what's the plan I'll
give you anything you want as
the commission came up with a plan you all could design it so you could have events you could have flyers only you could have testing and I
mean
I just to say I think this is part of the beauty of this plan is like
Marcus
is the unicorn that sort of is in both the commission and the health department teams but most of our health department teams are not commissioners and so if there was a marriage of these two things right it's like
we
have community embedded folks with our public health folks like it would be a partnership with yes so not to say if
public
health is there you don't need to be there like I think it's almost like those two voices together are with business the extra yeah
I mean I yeah I'm a
little disappointed we haven't been to San Jose State like how we used to I know we were there a lot all the time doing that's there and I don't think we've gone yeah
well
I know I know the Student Health Center down there during the month of April sick because it's STD Awareness Month and do events during that time that's what she was asking us to come down there last year
there are a lot of different events that happen through the summer that are either directly or tangentially related to pride that there's already some involvement in there I'm sure there would be more there are things like Furcon there's we have a list of like sort of typical events you all might know of ones too that we haven't thought of yet but I think they're rolling every year there's not like things that happen one time so yeah and I
think I I think we made a request to her read and our team to give us a calendar of events throughout the year so the Commission can look at it and see what would work for us to go and present our table
I'm wondering if
there's an issue about representing the Commission because generally we're not allowed to represent the Commission as a Commissioner when you
say that we're not allowed to represent in what way
we're not allowed to speak for the Commission in public unless we are duly authorized by the Commission for a specific purpose it's usually a one -time thing perhaps Radhika you can expand on that
the only person on the Commission who can talk in public about the Commission and represent it
is the Chair
so let me throw that out there so I want to make sure we're doing this right one of the things that we came up with for the Professional Committee is for us to be more involved in some of the events so for like for instance for Black Family Day I went there representing the Commission that day I went there with the purpose of just bringing attention to the Commission say hey Santa Clara County has an HIV Commission we have these committees we're looking for people who are interested in contributing or helping out but other of that
that
sounds fine to me okay that kind of just if you're just putting information about the
Commission yeah that's it that's the only thing I'm doing yeah I just want to bring awareness
to the Commission you can't represent the Commission in any official capacity oh I would
never dream such
these test kits are family
we'll
contact you
yes no they I also you do them yourself in the I'm sorry is there any insurance issue about handing out a test kit
no
I mean you folks in the in the Public Health Department all are protected by
the county but we would not be but I mean these are available commercials
these
are available to the public for yeah
so that they allow me that that's the person those people go out and pick them up or buy them or whatever they're responsible for getting it I'm just I just don't know if there would be an
insurance issue if we supplied it and we inserted ourselves as a third party in the stream
that's very good are you talking about the Commission or the Public Health Department
the Commission the Commission the Commission the Commission the Commission the if the Commissioner would it be passing out test kits
like let's say I passed out test kits and something happened or got forbid
but I would be covered you would be covered do
you mean insurance as in like risk or insurance as in like health coverage risk
if you're
not the one during the test I don't think so it would be
more of finding out from county council you're just a middle
man passing it out yeah yeah yeah
yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah
yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Or if it's negative and they want press. So that's the sort of training that goes around it, right, is what information do you give them when you give them the test so they're prepared, whatever
the result is. That information actually should be floated out into the world before the tests are even put out there so that people have a running start because it takes people a few steps to figure out what they're even hearing.
But I imagine that we would be, that's where the marriage between us and the public health department would come in. We would be distributing their literature on that. And that's something that we can discuss. If people are not comfortable handing out actual test kits, we can hand out literature saying that these are available. If people are comfortable handing out test kits, then we can have a deeper dive into the logistics and the legal and all of that around what is the liability of a commissioner distributing kits. And then the impact. Because this would just be like a distribution program because we don't know how many people will test and how many, we won't get the
results. But we can say that this year we handed out this many kits. There are this many HIV tests that are in the community. People are aware of it. So we can discuss that and see what the commission is capable, comfortable,
equipped to do. So that's what we, that's what this item is about.
We also have the option of, we did it one year, providing a QR code. And all they do is scan the QR code and they'll put their information in and the test will be mailed right to their house. So there's different ways, there's a lot of options. There's a lot of options
for how we can go about it. But the hope is that each of us represent a constituency of some sort. We come from different backgrounds. And we hold seats and have people in mind when we sit here. And so the thought would be that we would get these kits to the places that we feel like maybe, you know, for whatever reason, if it's a closed community, the public health department is not able to access or, you know, that we are able to kind of widen the scope and, you know, raise information about it. So, you know, everyone, I think, you know, I think everyone can think about what they're comfortable with in that way. That's
one of the questions I think, you know, we discussed it in exec that let's say you're going to a youth event where you know there'll be a lot of young people. You can say, oh, you know, can I take 100 kits with me and I want to distribute them. If you're comfortable and we're trained and equipped to do that, that would be lovely, you know, and that would be a good contribution for the commission to make. So, you know, let's think about it. It's different. It's not, you know, like there's no precedent for it, but it is something that's possible and available to us, so.
And I'll always be with someone. So as long as you need to go out there, I'll be right by your side, so. Yeah.
Yeah. Even
if they showed up positive, I think there's still a substantial percentage that wouldn't be going because people tend to have this. But that's,
that's.
Well, I know, but it's, it's not
good. I know. Yeah. And more education out there than what.
Education doesn't translate into action.
No. No. David, I think one of the things in all test kits is that if you do get a, the literature in it recommends that if you get a positive test, that you should go get a confirmatory test. Right. And that's the best we can probably do. Yeah, exactly. Yep. Then it's, because if you do a blood test, then
it's reportable. Yep.
So maybe the next item on this is, is can we look into the legality and the regulation around what this would look like? And then we can come back in May with that information, and then we can take the conversation further at that point. How does that sound?
So it might be worth, whenever it's appropriate, to put together an ad hoc committee to put the proposal together when it's ready to be done. Yeah.
I think first step, we'll take it to exec. Yeah. And let them kind of. No, I. Yeah. That's wise. Feedback to us from there.
Yeah. I think we should get a legal opinion, I think. Yeah. Yeah. That'll be included. We have no kids. We have put ourselves in the liability stream. I mean, it's just the way it is. It doesn't make sense, but what does? What do
you do with the San Diego Public Health Department? Do they just take them out to the bars and leave them there on the tables? They used to do that with the condoms back when
that was the only area that we had. Nobody used to do that. Exactly. Okay. All right. So we'll go ahead and move on to number eight. Consider recommendations relating to the 2026 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment in Washington, D .C. So the Ryan White Conference is going to be taking place in August, August 4th through August 7th. As a commission, we are required to send representatives.
The chair also, recipient staff is also required. I think the requirement is eight. However, Laura has been working with Ilana, explaining to her what our budgetary constraints are and what we would be able to do as far as sending someone to the
conference.
We only have $1
,700 for eight people.
Yeah. Yeah. It makes sense. It's just not eight people. It's not eight people. It's just not possible. You know, so that has been communicated. It's like, I'm getting rid of
people. But
I am not able to go in these dates, and so we're bringing it to the commission if anyone else is interested. I don't want to go. Yeah. The vice chair is also. I'd be more than happy. Okay. Then here we go. All right. We've got two minutes. Wonderful. Wonderful. Didn't have to say much. Okay. Okay. So we need to.
We need to approve. Forwarding a recommendation. Forward a recommendation.
One or two. Vicki, is it
one? Sorry. One or two people? Yeah. It can be two. It can be worded at the same time. Okay. Nomination. Okay. Somebody come with me for that. Okay. Somebody come with me. It would be one person attending, but two people being nominated. Okay. And then that way, if one person is not available, then the other. Again with the alternate.
Yes.
So similar to the other. Mark is his primary. Yeah.
Okay.
It's in
August.
August 4th. August 4th is the show. Do you want me to give a few more details about the couple? Sure. So the meeting is August 4th through the 7th. Those are all full days. Although I have in the past had success in flying home on the last day because it is coast to west coast time. But so it would require. I'm trying to look at a calendar. But it would require. It would require flying out on the 3rd likely to meet via the whole meeting and then flying back either the night of the 7th or the 8th. It's in Washington, D .C. The agenda from the last one I was at two years ago is
it's pretty packed four days. They do have a series of sessions that are specific for planning councils and planning bodies in addition to like a council for administration and council for a track for fiscal and track for so you could pick and choose a bit. But and then they usually have one or two plenary meetings that are like a couple hours long and they're for everybody to have all together. Yeah. So what the county budgets for is the travel and the hotel,
which
can all be paid in advance. The registration. There is no registration fee for the meeting. And then the county will also reimburse for what they call per diem, right? The set amount per day. And for your transportation, two and. From the airport, but that is reimbursed after the meeting. So you submit your, you know, you send in your travel and then they pay you back for that. So typically the big expenses can be paid in advance, but there is some upfront cost that you would have to get reimbursed for. And I'm sure a way around it if that was a barrier.
But
it is a pretty packed set of four days. Well, the last day is sort of a wrap up. It's usually more
stuff more in the morning and then that's it. Last time it went until three p .m. Okay. Really?
Okay. That's Friday. So it's there right now. Yeah.
At a very late flight back. But they don't have the agenda, the specific agenda out yet. So I would say just
be
ready to go for, you know, from the 3rd to the 8th if that's what's required once we get the
agenda. And Alana, our project officer did mention that they have a specific clinic that they're kind of designing specifically for planning bodies this year. They want to pay more attention to planning bodies, get more face to face interaction. So there will be kind of a separate
event
that they are planning to. Engage with planning bodies, so that's something to kind of think about and it's part of the,
right?
And I imagine wine's not covered with the meal.
I'm going to go with probably not, yeah. It's a BYO. You know, but most meals are actually on your own.
You're not, they
don't give you a lot, and last time they didn't even have water dispensers around, which was, people were very upset about this. But so most of the, it's kind of a pro actually. Most of the food you're on your own. You're not subjected to conference food the whole time. And I heard you correctly, we fought first class,
then we, Penthouse
is the lodging? Yes, exactly. Santa Clara County gets the spot at the top, for sure.
Yeah, if we can get
the county to reimburse you for alcohol,
I have a
feeling the county probably goes over your receipts with a fine -tooth comb. Oh,
I'm sure. It's not permanent, that's true. Okay, so we're, let's. We will go ahead and recommend both Kermit and Marcus
to
go for, to represent us. There's also this item about approved total estimated travel expenses at the amount of $1 ,771.
Have we, have, any research on flights and what they look like right now? That's the estimate based on last time, but it's an estimate
because it'll, we'll find that out. We'll find the budget for whatever it is. Okay, okay. That seems like a very specific number, that's what exactly class one is. Last time, okay.
We'll adjust it. Somebody want to make a motion?
I'll second.
Who did? Quavis. Quavis. Baldwin. And
Baldwin.
Moved by Commissioner Quavis, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin.
No.
Commissioner Baldwin. Yes. Senator Bowling. Commissioner Benton. Yes. Vice Chairperson Bowman. Yep. Chairperson Noonan. Yes. Commissioner McClure. Yes. Commissioner Conway. Yes. Commissioner Dirth. Aye. Commissioner Morse. Yes. Commissioner
Senn.
Yes. Commissioner Witt. Yes. Commissioner Quavis. Yes. Approved. Okay. So I, just a question.
So
this doesn't approve anything for the lodging, so is, is the person that goes going to have to pay for the lodging themselves and get reimbursed? I'm sorry. No. That will be booked in advance by the county.
So
the county will book that. Okay. That's correct. Yeah. But the person will have to pay for any extras that they get from
the, for
room service
and . You know I'm doing room service every night. Like wine. Wine. Yes. Okay. All right. We'll go to, in the interest of time. Okay. We'll go
on to item nine. One room placed in the middle of nowhere. Nine. Yeah. Item nine. Receive November and October.
And December 2025 reports from the state office of aid. Is that the way? Can I just back, back up a minute? Mm -hmm. About,
seem
to remember, Laura, you might want to book the hotel
early.
Because I know some people have gotten there, have, have made reservations late and
their
hotel rooms were across town or something like that. Yeah. Because they don't always have enough
hotel rooms at the facility. Would I be able to make my own reservations through my own, my
own, my own, my own, my own
There's, there's, I think for the commissioner, it actually has to be approved by the board before travel. Because, so we'll, we'll walk through the packet with the two of you. Yeah. I just want my points. Because it's a good point.
The,
the room lock hasn't even opened yet,
Carl. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But we need to be on it when it is here, right? Yeah.
Yeah. No, because I remember some people had the, they had a pretty good hike to get to the conference from their hotel.
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Well, if Tesla is going, doing their thing, cybercams.
There you go. They come, they come to you. Yeah. And they charge you. They take you, and then they disappear.
Okay.
All right. We need to move on
here. Yeah. We're going to.
Okay.
I'm sorry
to interrupt. It's okay. We're in the, just, we're, we're running out of time. So we're going to go ahead and receive the report from the state office of,
is
that Leroy?
Again?
You're back. Okay. Hi, Leroy.
Bye.
Yep. Hi, everybody. So really quickly, I'm just going to say.
Well.
Uh -oh. We lost John. We lost John. We lost your audio.
Oh,
he can't hear us either.
Oh.
We can't hear you. Come back.
Go
out and come back.
Can he hear?
Can't hear you? He can't hear you.
Oh, wait. We're, we're frozen. Oh.
Oh.
I think he's trying to fix it.
Please
say the name. Your dean of students representative, the medical representative is going to be the beginning to attend meetings beginning in April. So the, the, the. Okay. I know that, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a种 word a bit. So one of the assignments we have, we have, we, we're jointly funding a position we dropped today with PHDS to, to, to appoint a medical representative, medical eligibility representative to your body. That person is forthcoming, they're coming soon. And it's like just in time because there's a lot of changes to medical and the way the these population shift from medical to other supportive
services and funding. So that will be more, more to come on that. I'll, there's other thing in writing, I can provide that to you later. So if you need that. time those are the only two updates i have
you
said that when will they begin attending meetings
so
um i was expecting the one of the dhcs representatives to attend tonight but he had a conflict so they are going to be attending informally okay until they have the person that comes back from leave uh that person will be formally uh presented to you in an application just like i was okay uh and they'll be appointed to you so the i expect the a person to be uh probably at the main meeting uh but they won't be officially appointed until they go through your your process that you
um that
you hold to appoint us to your uh to your body i
don't believe we were ever expecting that to happen that's all i said no no it's like yeah yeah
i thank dr bruce and all of your advocacy for continuing to bring it up again and again and again because it's now it's an audit finding and we want to close that door so that nothing will give them an excuse to take money from california other than the other ways that they're finding excuses yeah i'm
sorry you were frozen for a little bit can you repeat the first update again for us please oh um
yeah safety uh for the indian syndemic symposium it's a virtual symposium that we hold every year there's a lot of community voices and those with lived experience uh this is september 29th through october 1st and so you'll get information about a save the date qr code that we'll be sending out i will just mention really quickly you may have heard this from your local folks but you have an implementation of a new formula for allocations of part a and part b for those jurisdictions like santa clara that have received a cut from part a we have at the office of aids made all part a jurisdictions whole using increased allocations from part b money so
that's something that we've presented to you in a letter uh and i'm sure your uh your folks will update you about that but it will make your job easier when it comes time to allocate because allocate your priority setting and allocations because you won't receive an operating cut uh from that implementation of that part a part b formula
okay okay
i'll answer questions about that but also you have a letter that explains that in more detail than to uh your local jurisdiction okay
thank you levi cool so we'll share the letter so that everybody can take a look at it and if there's any questions then we can bring it up at our next meeting so
this medical person um what will they be to this commission just a member of the public
so i think um so we have an ordinance language about extra fiscal numbers um which is how we were ordered so they would be the second to take the action but do
we need to vote on that it will need
to be a vote when we
get it okay thank you and they won't have a vote right
they're not voting okay
thank you okay we'll
go into item 10. laura that is you
awesome hi everyone i'm a little uh recovering here from a cult so try and speak up um so i'm going to do the review of our expenditures that are in the report first and these are the tables um that start on item 10 and we can start with the yellow draft um so this is the expenditures of the part a award through the 10th month of the grant year so that's through december um and i just flipped these to best
um so
10 months in through the great year the part a and party mai award is approximately 76 spent
um the
categories that have underspend our medical case management, medical transportation, and oral health care. We are very confident we'll be able to make up the difference in the last two months in medical case management and likely medical transportation as well.
And
we're still receiving the final invoices from oral health care to see how much of their allocation they're spending. Emergency financial assistance shows an underspend of 61%. That's because there's two buckets of emergency financial assistance there's the $10 ,000 that's the normal allocation and then the $75 ,000 we carry forward. So 61 % underspent in that $10 ,000 bucket pool. We've almost completely spent the $75 ,000 bucket. So we'll get to that in a second.
For the carryover funds, so we have the emergency financial assistance I just mentioned
and
then the outreach services. Outreach services show almost completely underspend. That's because they were primarily spent in the month of February.
It
took a long time for those funds to get from HRSA into a contract.
But I
expect when I present the full year budget or the full year expenditures next time
it'll
be if not 100 % spent nearly that. Because all of those carryover funds were used for outreach in the month of February. So they're just not reflected in the chart yet.
So that is part of it. Part A, which is the yellow graph.
The
one immediately after, oh wait, I did put carryover.
So
we won't be able to answer the date of carryover into the next fiscal year?
Currently we're estimating that our unobligated balance for the year is going to be closer to about $100 ,000. So we may request some of that carryforward into DFA again.
That's
something we'll come back to you for approval on. It is very complicated we win this year to carry forward money but it's also, it had a huge impact for our clients when we could have more DFA. So we're trying to figure out the best way to increase DFA
while not,
you know, creating a big administrative headache.
But
I, so my answer to you Carl is TBD.
I
think if we end up with anything more than about $50 ,000 it's going to be hard not to justify carrying it forward because it makes a big impact for our clients. So we'll see,
we'll
see where we land with that.
Any
other part A questions?
Okay, so for part B we are nine months through the grant year and we're 78 % spent.
So
food bank, home delivered meals are on track to be
spent.
Early intervention services is where we show an underspend right now but that's just because that allocation is only for the last five months of the year. And we've only had three of those five months.
So
by the end of the year we're confident we can spend all of the EIS money as well. So for part B we're on track to spend it down but at this point in the reporting cycle we're at 78%.
Is
that the kind of rate of support between part A and B? Early intervention services was,
yeah. Okay, thank
you. Seven months in part A and five months in part B.
And
then the last bar chart you have here is the one in brown.
This
is just pulling out the money that we carry forward. So what I already described, the outreach services show zero percent spent. But again, I expect those to catch up in the month of February.
And
emergency financial assistance is 97 .8 % spent as of the reporting.
Have
we consistently made it to that red line on
the EFA?
No. In
fact, our history of EFA has been severe underspend which is why it's always only been $10 ,000. The two big changes happened this year that made this work.
The
first is we really focused the EFA money on housing assistance because we lost that other housing program from the office of the agency. The other housing program was $475 ,000.
This
was only $75 ,000. So it didn't even begin to make up the difference but it allowed us to cover some emergency housing needs that otherwise we wouldn't have been able to.
So
by adding in that housing focus on EFA was really the reason we were able to spend it.
The
other is I think because it was in public health. Rather than where it previously was at the health trust.
And
there were a couple layers of approval at the health trust to getting EFA through. Here we really streamlined it to just what's minimally required by HRSA. So I think process wise we also made it a lot more accessible here than it had been previously.
At
least is what I'm... I thought that was true and then the fact we spent the money makes me think it wasn't fact true.
Any other budget questions?
Any
questions?
Okay. Okay.
Should we move on to item 11?
Move on to the next one?
Yeah. So I just had a couple quick updates for you. One of them and we just got a nice summary of it from We Write Too so I can be
quick.
But is that we did get our notice of awards. Our first. So remember that part A funding gives us our notice of award in two parts usually. So we've gotten the first partial award. Usually we get the second half of it sometime in April, May. So we'll keep an eye out for that. Based on the first partial award. So HRSA gives it to you and they say we think this is about this percentage of your money. And so if you do the math based on what they gave us in that first partial. We expect that we got about a $66 ,000 cut in our formula and about a $4 ,000 cut in our minority aids
initiative. And this was directly tied to what Leroy mentioned that HRSA has changed the way that they calculate the burden of infection in your jurisdiction. It used to be based on someone's address and diagnosis which of course never changes once you've been diagnosed. Right. Now the formula is accounting for your current address. And that is more variable. Right. Because people move. So we submitted public comment on this when it was a proposed rule saying that we oppose it. And it was put into effect anyway which I think we weren't surprised about. Yeah. So the result was we're estimating the result when we get our full award will be about a total $70 ,000 cut in
the Part B award. So we were working on a plan to address that when we got the lovely surprise of our Part B award. And Part B actually increased to
try and offset what
they knew we were losing from HRSA. So this year we saw a $77 ,000 increase. Right. On the Part B award. So we actually made a little money. Yeah. And then Part B has put in our award that their intention is to increase again for the next two years at the same rate we're losing from HRSA. That's wonderful. It will require a little bit more shifting. Right. Because right now as Carl just alluded to we split one service category from Part A and Part B. Now we might have to split two. But we'll take the money. It's worth the work.
So I don't know if you can even answer this question, but when I was on CPT, the Office of AIDS was looking at redistributing how to be able to give more money to non -HRSA recipients to help balance. So the counties
like Monterey,
Santa Cruz. Places that don't receive Part A awards.
They were talking about redistributing the Part B to benefit those who do not receive a Part A award. Has there been any talk about that? Or any talk of not pursuing that? Yeah.
So there is a formula being applied. It was applied again this year. And it accounts for both your burden of infection and your utilization of the funds in the previous year. So we spent our Part B award down to zero last year. Which benefited us because when they ran the formula again that was accounted for. That we had spent all our money in the previous year. The formula that to my knowledge does not include a consideration of Part A. And I haven't heard about that again since. Like using that as sort of a...
I remember the workshops on it. They were trying to write a formula. And most of the CPG participants felt that it was reasonable that if jurisdictions that only received Part B benefited. And jurisdictions that received Part A would give up a little bit of their Part B to help the jurisdictions that did not receive Part A. But it was very complicated. Yeah. And I don't know that they ever arrived. We haven't seen over the years any significant decrease in Part B.
The only... We saw the decrease last year as a result of HPP going away. But that was like a concrete that whole program left. Right? Yeah. Other than that, no. We have not seen a decrease.
Yeah. Yeah. Because I remember at the time, you know, everybody thought that it was a reasonable consideration. And then they tried to come to a formula. And that was like... Hard to tell. Sent everybody cross -eyed. Yeah. Yeah.
So I do know they applied the formula they have again this year. I think they're not going to apply it again until this cycle ends in three years.
But, yeah, it seems like they're considering more of the cuts happening in other places. And then how much of your award you're able to spend. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. Uh
-huh. But CPG members, if you hear anything different when you're there, please let us know. That would be helpful. We always put it in the chat. We address that. And then we have some redistribution of Part B that's underspent. Oh, okay. Did you hear that, Carl? I
didn't hear all of that. They
address that by taking the underspend in Part B and redistributing that to Part B only grantees. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Leroy. The only other thing I was going to share with you all is that we did just receive our templates for the annual reports that are due by HRSA due May 31st. One of those reports is the HIV commission or the planning council planning body membership roster. That Vicki puts together for all of you. So if there are questions that she needs from you all, I don't know what you typically solicit from the team. But she will be working on that one between now and May 31st. And then Carlos, myself, and Mary will
work on all the other reports that are due by May 31st. Okay. So just to flag that we're working on that. Okay. And I think that is all I have. Okay. Okay. So we have to fill out every year part of our annual reporting. We fill out
a list. It's called the membership roster, I think is what they call the document. Oh, it has to go to HRSA. Yeah. Exactly. But not one that's restricted to us. No, but I think there is
some information that Vicki usually polls the commissioners about by email
to make sure she's reporting the correct data. Yeah. Yeah. And then more
like public health situational awareness. You might have seen it in the news. But Santa Clara County had one new case this year. Our last new case for awareness was in May 31st. That was in 2019. So it was a while since we've had a case in Santa Clara County. The cases in California as a whole this year have been going up. So we're just keeping a close eye on it. I think our communicable disease team is on it. And there were no secondary cases linked to the case, which is really good.
Yeah. Just situational awareness. Somebody traveled in from, where were all those cases? What state were all those cases in?
Let's pick one. South Carolina. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the most recent out there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
my God. I
haven't said
the words since the 70s. Well. Well, it's been going to come back to. Yeah. Oh, that's not here. Yeah,
I think the messaging is encourage vaccination. Yeah. California, the Bay Area especially, has really the vaccination. Yeah. I think overall we're still doing OK. OK. I haven't lost. I'm on. We
don't have that many cases. Wow.
Who are you asking? Thank
you.
Thank you again. Thanks. Thanks. okay it's all opened up yeah
so
we were listening he
still is on you okay
yes that's clear do we is there any danger why the danger that's I mean what's happening in Florida with them heading back on on what AIDS medications that they're that their program is covering do we have any any inkling of anything that may change in a that formulary here I
can address the question from a state perspective in that there is that there's no plan to abate they that program now or either eligibility or or the open formulary the open formulary itself actually probably won't be a ton more expensive it actually will be a ton more effective because we found that individuals that have more tools in their hands and the doctors that work tools in their hands to be able to offer to clients we see better health outcomes and there's cost savings other places so at this point we're actually kind of mystified that other states are abating their ADAPT programs because funding for that part B has been stable and so we're sort of
mystified as to why people maybe it's there have other state and budget pressures locally but in California ADAPT is central and there are no plans to abate it and you know Armageddon or like a funding smart funding issues could happen but we will always endeavor to save and connect people with the medications that they need through ADAPT actually the opposite is true. the program itself is central to the goals of our programming.
I think it wasn't well I know for certain it wasn't a planned event but I think I read the news highlight the news headline about and the very next day got the email about the open formulary in California and it was not I was just like what is happening in the world right now. How can these two things be so far apart? So serendipitous timing maybe for those of us that read one thing and got very concerned, but I'll just echo, I think everything I've heard from the state echoes what Leroy's saying with us.
There's no reason to cut it. If I remember right, Florida changed, lowered their eligibility to 130 % of poverty, which in California that would kick thousands of people off.
Well all I know, and I was very happy to find this out, is that ADAP is covering my premiums for my covered California insurance. Yes, yes. It's
an incredibly strong program. That's
$605 a month and I don't have to pay.
And I think Florida was removing McTarvey from their formula.
Well, I'm not going to Florida.
We need to pick up the page here. 817.
Okay. All right. Thank you, Loretta, and a function. Okay, we'll move on to item 12, receive revertable reports relating to communications with HRSEP. I don't have... We've discussed all of that here, so I don't have anything else to add to that. Item 13, proposed future agenda items. In the interest of time, if you have any, please email them to Vicki and we'll put them on the agenda for our next meeting. Okay, and then item 14, announcements. The only announcement that I have is...
Wait, can I take this one? Oh, sure. Can I take this one? Yeah, go ahead. Is it what we were talking about? Yes. Okay. Go ahead. Vicki has gotten... They've
gotten funding approved to bring in interns? Interns or intern? Intern. An intern. Okay. An intern over the summer to help us with recruiting commission members.
Yeah. We need, what,
three? Three.
So... Interns.
So, just a little bit more information on it. So, it's an internship between June and August. It's for college and university students. So, community and then bachelor's level, correct? Associates, bachelor's. Associates, bachelor's, or master's level.
The applications were due March 1st. So, you've already closed the period. The pay is between $19 .70 and all the way up to $44 .30. So, depending on who gets it and their level and experience, that will be decided.
Yes. And then it's a part -time, flexible, or full -time role, 10 to 40 hours a week, 400 hours in total in three months. So, those are the particulars of... Nice. ...how it will work. So, which is going to be wonderful. Yeah. Just what we need. Just what we need. Sorry, Marcus.
It's gone.
So, yeah. So, that's the only announcement. Oh, the other is a reminder about your annual... Form 700. Form 700. Yeah. Form 700. If you haven't done that already, go ahead and get those... It's so easy. You can do it right online. Yeah. Just... It's very quick.
Okay.
And that is all. We are... I just
want to remind people, the Care Committee has changed their meeting schedule. We're now meeting on the second Thursday, which means we're meeting this Thursday, if anybody's interested in coming. This Thursday? Yes. Yeah. Day after tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you, everybody. We are adjourned. If
y 'all are looking for something to do this weekend, the Silico Valley Gay Man's Choir's concert is this weekend at the Campbell United Methodist Church, Friday at 8 o 'clock, Saturday at 1 o 'clock. And then, unfortunately, bad news, if you have not heard, Renegades, the gay bar, is closed. The owner died. Police. Police passed away. Yeah, so...