Stem cell group seeks quick end to challenge

By Rebecca Vesely, Inside Bay Area, June 15, 2006

The California Attorney General's office on Wednesday filed a motion to speed up the appeals process in a case challenging the constitutionality of the state's stem cell research program.

The motion, filed in the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco, requests that a court date be set for oral arguments within about 100 days.

"This is a crucial case which affects the interest of people across California," said Attorney General Bill Lockyer in a statement. "This legal challenge has thwarted the voters' will."

Three taxpayer and consumer groups with ties to anti-abortion activists are challenging the constitutionality of the state's $3 billion stem cell research agency.

The stem cell program was created by Proposition 71, a ballot initiative approved by 59 percent of voters in November 2004. The initiative created the agency, called the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and authorized the sale of $3 billion in bonds over 10 years to fund stem cell research in the state.

In April, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in the state's favor - determining that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the agency operates outside state control. The groups had argued in the four-day non-jury trial in February that the agency and its oversight board aren't fiscally accountable to taxpayers.

The plaintiffs - the People's Advocate, National Tax Limitation Foundation and Family Bioethics Council - appealed the ruling earlier this month.

The legal challenge has prevented the state from issuing bonds intended to fund stem cell research and basic operations of the new agency, which is based in San Francisco.

If the appeals court grants the state's motion, a ruling could come by the end of the year. Once oral arguments are completed, the appeals court has up to 90 days to issue a ruling.

If the state's motion to expedite the case is denied, a ruling may not come down from the appeals court for another year, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office said.

The plaintiffs have said they will exhaust the legal process.

The state is selling so-called bond anticipation notes to philanthropic organizations to fund the agency, with the understanding that if the state loses the lawsuit, the bonds would become donations. The state is close to raising $50 million in bond anticipation notes, a spokeswoman for the stem cell institute said.

To date, the stem cell agency has distributed $12 million in grants to 16 research institutes statewide to train students and graduate in stem cell research using the bond anticipation note funding.

Scientists are exploring the promise of stem cells to cure diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and heart disease. The research is controversial because it can involve the destruction of human embryos.

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