Senators Hardiman, Patterson, Clarke, Johnson, Toy, Hammerstrom, Jacobs, Allen, Gilbert, Birkholz, Cropsey, Stamas, Scott and Leland offered the following resolution:

            Senate Resolution No. 95.

            A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact legislation reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act to provide comprehensive care for the neediest victims of HIV/AIDS.

            Whereas, The numbers of children, youth, and particularly young women who are infected with HIV or have developed AIDS are increasing. In the United States, more than 9,000 children under the age of thirteen are living with HIV/AIDS. Of the nearly 40,000 Americans infected every year with HIV, nearly fifteen percent are under twenty-five years of age. Among the newly infected in the age group of thirteen to nineteen, fifty-eight percent are women; and

            Whereas, Children and young people infected with HIV and living with AIDS have unique needs for specialized medical services and psychosocial support. Programs funded under the Ryan White CARE Act successfully deliver family-centered, coordinated health care and support services for women, children, youth and families. These programs have played a significant role in reducing the number of mother-to-child HIV infections from 2,000 to fewer than 200 per year; and

            <<Whereas, Recent patterns in the United States show that HIV/AIDS increasingly affects African Americans, Latinos, and other racial and ethnic minorities. In 2004, minorities accounted for almost three-fourths of new cases of AIDS in an HIV/AIDS surveillance report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of these newly identified AIDS patients, 48 percent were African Americans and 21 percent were Latinos. The rate also continued to rise among women, who accounted for 27 percent of new AIDS cases in 2004. Of these women newly diagnosed with AIDS, 67 percent were African Americans and 15 percent were Latinas; and>>

            Whereas, In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush supported reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act to encourage prevention of HIV/AIDS and provide care and treatment for the neediest HIV/AIDS victims. The Secretary of Health and Human Services proposed five guiding principles to reauthorize the Act. First, serve the neediest victims of HIV/AIDS. Second, focus on delivering life-saving and life-extending services. Third, increase prevention efforts through more routine testing. Fourth, increase the accountability of states and organizations receiving federal funds. Fifth, give the federal government flexibility to reallocate unspent funds. By following these principles, care will be delivered to the neediest patients that will help them live longer and healthier lives; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate, That we memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact legislation reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.