CIRM Firm Against Kuehl Legislation

The Oversight Committee of the California stem cell agency Tuesday voted unanimously to oppose legislation aimed at ensuring that California shares the benefits of any therapies developed with $3 billion in state-funded research.

Reporter Terri Somers of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote that the board considered the legislation "premature."

She quoted Dale Carlson, chief communications officer for CIRM, as saying the agency, which has been in existence for more than two years, should be given time to complete its policy-making process.

According to Somers, Carlson said,

"The board members appreciate that Senator Kuehl has an interest in fair prices, fair access and fair returns to the state. Those are our objectives as well. We'd like the opportunity to continue to work with her and other members of the Legislature to come up with a mechanism that best achieves those objectives."

Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and state Senate Republican leader George Runner of Antelope Valley are co-authors of the bill, SB771, which comes before Kuehl's Health Committee this afternoon. The session will be broadcast live on the CalChannel.

Also now available online is the Health Committee staff analysis of the measure, which explains the bill in straightforward terms.

Somers, by the way, appears to be the only reporter in California who wrote a story based on Tuesday's Oversight Committee meeting.