Tuesday, April 28, 2009

California's Stem Cell Education Bill Comes Before CIRM and Senate on Wednesday

The board of directors of the California stem cell agency on Wednesday will discuss newly strengthened legislation to push stem cell research training and education into California public schools.

The bill, SB 471 by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-East Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, will now require state schools to establish and promote as a state priority a stem cell and biotech education program. Previously the legislation said such an effort "should" occur.

The bill is now dubbed the "California Stem Cell and Biotechnology Education and Workforce Development Act of 2009." It is supported by the BIOCOM industry group and opposed by the California Catholic Conference. CIRM has not yet officially taken a position on the measure, but has been working with the measure's authors.

The measure was added Monday afternoon to the board's agenda for its meeting that begins today in Los Angeles. Remote, interactive teleconference locations for the meeting are available in Sacramento, Pleasanton and at Stanford. Specific sites can be found on the board's agenda.

The bill is now before the Senate Education Committee, where it is certain to be approved on Wednesday. The legislation is likely to move easily through the Senate because the top Senate leader, Steinberg, is one of the authors.

Here is a link to the legislative staff analysis of the measure.

2 comments:

  1. Nice Posted! Its so very informative and knowledgeable for your visitors or readers.
    Thank You for sharing.. Keep up the good work..

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