Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed Assembly Bill 547, sponsored by Assemblymember Patty Berg (D-Eureka), which makes it easier for cities and counties to maintain needle-exchange programs to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

The measure eliminates a section of state law requiring cities and counties to declare a health emergency every two weeks to justify continuing needle-exchange programs.

"This is a great moment for public health," said Humboldt County Public Health Officer Ann Lindsay. "This bill will allow at least six more counties to conduct needle-exchange programs and protect not only injection drug users, but their families from infectious disease."

Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year, but this year Berg and her supporters enlisted sponsorship from public-health officers and key law-enforcement groups including the California Peace Officers' Association and the California Narcotic Officers' Association.

More than 1,800 people die of AIDS every year in California, and 1,500 new infections occur through syringe sharing among intravenous drug users. According to Berg's office, 5,000 people contract hepatitis C from syringe sharing.

Needle-exchange programs are now operating in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Ventura, and the cities of Berkeley and Los Angeles. Health officers in several counties had said they would be more likely to set up programs if Berg's bill became law.

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