2004 California Proposition 71

California law

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v t e

Proposition 71 of 2004 (or the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act) is a law enacted by California voters to support

Proposition 71 created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which is in charge of making "grants and loans for stem cell research, for research facilities, and for other vital research opportunities to realize therapies" as well as establishing "the appropriate regulatory standards of oversight bodies for research and facilities development".^[1] The Act also establishes a governing body called the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee (ICOC) to oversee CIRM.

Proposition 71 is unique in at least three ways. Firstly, it uses

By 2020, the funding from proposition 71 was mostly used, and so the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine expected to shut down if it did not receive additional funding. For that reason, another ballot initiative has been initiated as part of the 2020 California elections. This initiative, known as Proposition 14, will authorize $5.5 billion in state general authorization bonds to fund the stem cell research at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.^[2][3][4] The initiative passed with 51% of the vote, so the stem cell research will continue.^[3]

Provisions

Proposition 71 states that "This measure shall be known as the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act”. That is therefore the official citation. However, the measure is also headed as the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.^[5] The Act is long and complex. It amends the state constitution by adding "Article 35 – Medical Research". This article establishes the CIRM and guarantees a right to conduct stem cell research. Proposition 71 also amends the Health and Safety Code, by introducing a provision in Part 5 of Division 106 called "Chapter 3 – California Stem Cell Research and Cures Bond Act". This chapter, among other provisions, establishes the ICOC.

The new institute

ICOC membership

• (5 members) the chancellors of University of California at San Francisco, Davis, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Irvine.
• (12 members) the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Treasurer, and the Controller each appoints a member from each of the following three categories:
  • A California university, excluding the ones mentioned above.
  • A California nonprofit academic and research institution that is not part of the University of California.
  • A California life science commercial entity that is not actively engaged in researching or developing therapies with pluripotent or progenitor stem cells.
• (2 members) the Governor appoints two members, each from the following disease advocacy groups: Alzheimer's and spinal cord injury.
• (2 members) the Lieutenant Governor appoints two members, each from the following disease advocacy groups: type II diabetes and multiple sclerosis, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
• (2 members) the Treasurer appoints two members, each from the following disease advocacy groups: type I diabetes and heart disease.
• (2 members) the Controller appoints two members, each from the following disease advocacy groups: cancer and Parkinson's disease.
• (1 member) the Speaker of the Assembly appoints a member from a mental health disease advocacy group.
• (1 member) the President pro Tempore of the Senate appoints a member from an HIV/AIDS disease advocacy group.
• (2 members) A chairperson and vice chairperson who shall be elected by the ICOC members.

CIRM membership

CIRM may have up to 50 employees, who are exempt from civil service. CIRM is divided in three working groups.

• Scientific and Medical Research Funding Working Group; has 23 members:
  • Seven ICOC patient advocates who must be from California.
  • Fifteen stem-cell experts who cannot be from California.
  • The ICOC chair.
• Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group; has 19 members:
  • Five ICOC patient advocates who must be from California.
  • Nine stem-cell experts.
  • Four ethicists.
  • The ICOC chair.
• Scientific and Medical Research Facilities Working Group; has 11 members:
  • Six members from the Research Funding Work Group.
  • Four real estate specialists who must be from California.
  • The ICOC chair

Background

Ever since 1996, Congress has attached to the Health and Human Services appropriations bill (which regulates the funding for the National Institutes of Health) a provision known as the "Dickey–Wicker Amendment". This amendment, named after the former representative Jay Dickey, Republican from Arkansas, prohibits the use of federal monies to fund "research that destroys or seriously endangers human embryos, or creates them for research purposes".^[7]

In 1999, however, the General Counsel of the

On August 9, 2001, President

Proposition 71 represents a response to the federal policy. The idea for this proposition came about after the California legislature blocked a billion-dollar measure to fund stem cell research. Robert N. Klein II, a real-estate developer from Palo Alto, whose son suffers from diabetes and whose mother has Alzheimer's, became the leader of the campaign effort to pass Proposition 71, and spent three million dollars of his own money in the campaign.

Campaign

Proponents

The Coalition for Stem Cell Research and Cures comprised a broad group of people and organizations that included: 22 Nobel laureates; celebrities such as

The

The four organizations campaigning against the initiative raised almost $400,000. The main contributors were the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which donated $50,000 and Howard Ahmanson Jr., founder and president of Fieldstead & Company, who gave $95,000.

Analysis

Initial analysis and discussion of need for analysis was done in 2007^[8]

Sociologist Ruha Benjamin offers the first in-depth analysis of Proposition 71 in People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (Stanford University Press 2013). Too frequently the debate over stem cell research devolves in to simple judgments—good or bad, life-saving medicine or bioethical nightmare, symbol of human ingenuity or our fall from grace—ignoring the people affected. Benjamin moves the terms of debate to focus on the shifting relationship between science and society, on the people who benefit—or don't—from Proposition 71 and what this says about democratic commitments to an equitable society. Benjamin discusses issues of race, disability, gender, and socio-economic class that serve to define certain groups as more or less deserving in their political aims and biomedical hopes.

Results of vote

Proposition 71

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	7,018,059	59.05
No	4,867,090	40.95
Valid votes	11,885,149	94.40
Invalid or blank votes	704,534	5.60
Total votes	12,589,683	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	16,557,273	76.04

References