LOS ANGELES (AP) — Deep budget cuts could mean closure of California's adult day health care centers, which serve 37,000 elderly and disabled adults.

A spokeswoman for the centers, Lydia Missaelides, says five centers have already closed and seniors will suffer without community-based medical care and therapy at the centers.

Initially, $85 million had been promised to the centers, which just about halved their budget from the previous year.

Missaelides says the May revision of the budget dropped that sum to $25 million and the monies are transition funds toward elimination, not preserving the centers.

The centers are hopeful that funds can be restored by legislative efforts in which the state would adopt a more stringent qualification process instead of eliminating programs.

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