Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - May 27, 2005
Marisa Lagos, mlagos@examiner.com
Senate bill 13, which could possibly be placed on November ballot, would strengthen conflict-of-interest laws at the $3 billion taxpayer-funded agency, as well as set open-meetings guidelines and ensure that any treatments resulting from the state funding would be available to all California residents. Drafted by state Senator Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, the legislation would have to pass both houses of the state Legislature by a two-thirds majority in order to be eligible for the November special election.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was created in November 2004 with the passage of Proposition 71, which allows the state to issue up to $3 billion of bonds over the next 10 years for stem cell research. The proposition also included a clause preventing the state Legislature from changing any part of the proposition for three years. That clause prompted Ortiz to propose the constitutional amendment, to change what she sees as flaws in legislation she helped brainstorm and campaigned heavily for.
The Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee, the CIRM's 29-member governing board, this week blasted the legislation as an attack on the research itself, which scientists hope could lead to treatments and cures for diseases such as AIDS and cancer. The board unanimously voted to oppose the legislation, mainly objecting to a portion of the bill which would have required scientific grant review panels to conduct their meetings in public.
Those panels are usually closed, to avoid embarrassing researchers and panelists during the often harsh review process, ICOC members argued
During a conference call Thursday, Ortiz said she met with ICOC chair Bob Klein this week and agreed to amend the bill so those hearings would not be open to the public. Ortiz said instead she would require that the groups provide a written explanation of its recommendations and allow public comment before it makes a final recommendation to the ICOC.
She also agreed to amend some conflict-of-interest provisions so ICOC and grant review members would recuse themselves from votes pertaining to any company they have financial interests in, instead of placing those holdings in a blind trust. Additionally, Ortiz said the grant review members would have to disclose their economic interests to the ICOC and allow a state auditor to annually review those statements, but that they would not be open to the public as the ICOC's statements are.
Several other sticking points in the legislation must still be hashed out, Ortiz said, including how to ensure access to treatments.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved the legislation, which has not yet been amended to reflect the changes hashed out between Klein and Ortiz. Several Assembly committees must also approve the bill before it reaches that body for a vote.
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