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Another View: Legislature has some oversight of California's stem cell agency
By Dave Jones - Special To The Bee
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, December 16, 2007
Story appeared in FORUM section, Page E3
Controller John Chiang's thoughtful decision to audit the $3 billion stem cell institute is good news. He and The Bee should be applauded for pushing for more transparency and accountability.
However, it is not accurate to say that there has been no legislative oversight of the stem cell institute. The Legislature held in-depth hearings, chaired by former Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, and me, on concerns about the institute's operation.
Along with Sens. Ortiz and Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, I also co-authored several bills to make the institute more accountable to the public. As a result, the institute improved some of its practices, but recent revelations about conflicts of interest underscore the need for more reforms.
Unfortunately, voters don't always know what they are getting with ballot initiatives, and the stem cell institute is no exception. Voters were promised affordable cures and huge financial returns to the state general fund. The stem cell institute's regulations, though much improved, still do not guarantee Californians reasonable access to therapies developed with taxpayer funds or significant returns to the general fund on the taxpayers' $3 billion investment.
Under the terms of the voter approved stem cell initiative, Proposition 71, the hands of the Legislature have been tied. First, the initiative prevented the Legislature from making any changes before the third full year of the institute's existence.
Second, the initiative mandates that any legislative changes be approved by 70 percent of both houses of the Legislature – a higher vote threshold than that required to adopt the state budget. It is difficult enough to get that many legislators of very different political persuasions to agree on anything, let alone something as controversial as stem cell research.
Despite these limitations, we in the Legislature will continue to press for more transparency, accountability and accessibility as the stem cell institute awards $3 billion in taxpayer dollars for important stem cell research.
About the writer:
- Assemblymember Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, is responding to the Nov. 29 editorial "Chiang takes a look / Finally, scrutiny for stem cell institute."
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