BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
471 (Romero)
Hearing Date: 05/28/2009 Amended: 05/06/2009
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 7-1
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 471 would establish the Stem Cell and
Biotechnology Education and Workforce Development Act of 2009,
and require the Department of Education, in consultation with
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and
representatives of the biotechnology industry, to promote stem
cell and biotechnology education and workforce development in
the science curriculum frameworks, the California Partnership
Academies, the California Resource Network, and other existing
programs. The bill would request the University of California,
in consultation with CIRM, to include stem cell and
biotechnology in the Science Subject Matter Project and the
California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, as
specified. The bill would request that the Independent Citizens
Oversight Committee, and entity created by Proposition 71 (2004)
to govern CIRM) give consideration to education and workforce
development when allocating funds for stem cell research and
facilities.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
SDE $65
General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Proposition 71, approved by California voters in November 2004,
authorized
$3 billion in state bond funding for stem cell research and
established the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
(CIRM) to regulate stem cell research and provide funding for
such research and research facilities. Proposition 71 also
established an Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC)
to govern CIRM, established a constitutional right to conduct
stem cell research, and prohibited funding of human reproductive
cloning research. To date, CIRM has approved nearly $700
million in research and facilities grants.
This bill would require the reprioritization of specified
educational programs, some administered by the Department of
Education and some by UC, to include a focus on stem cell and
biotechnology education. The State Board of Education has
already voted to include stem cell science in the science
curriculum frameworks, which is due for a revision in 2010, so
the Department of Education can accommodate this issue as part
of the planned revision. The Department would incur costs of
approximately $65,000 for inclusion of stem cell and
biotechnology in existing workforce development programs, and
for various administrative costs, such as posting and
collaboration with UC.
Page 2
SB 471 (Romero)
UC would incur one-time costs of approximately $550,000 and
ongoing costs of $250,000 for developing and operating a stem
cell component to the California Science Project professional
development program.
Author's amendments would eliminate modification of the Science
Subject Matter Project.