Directors of the California stem cell
agency today approved a $17.3 million, hold-the-line budget for the
fiscal year that begins July 1, cutting $573,000 from a spending plan
that was proposed in early May.
The vote was 17-0 during a special
teleconference meeting that also saw a proposed $900,424 grant sent
back for a special examination by the agency's reviewers, said a CIRM
spokesman via email.
Presentation slides prepared for the meeting indicated that the new president of the $3 billion
agency, Randy Mills, is still evaluating the agency. The documents
said,
“If significant changes to the structure are needed, a proposal to the board along with the associated budgetary implications will be made at that time.”
Directors were also told that
without a $250,000, legally required performance audit this coming
year, the operational budget would be $400,000 under the estimated current
spending of $17.4 million.
The spending plan reflects initial parsimony on the part of Mills, who made a career in business
prior to coming to the agency. The previous CIRM CEOs have all come
from academia.
In other business, Kevin McCormack,
senior director for public communications, said that the $900,424
proposed award to Helen Blau of Stanford was sent back for re-review
by a subset of the agency's grant review group, also on a 17-0 vote.
At the agency's board meeting May 29, some directors said the
initial review was flawed and voted for a re-review by the full
review group. However, re-reviews usually are undertaken by a smaller
panel.
The action on Blau award came as one high-level CIRM staffer, Natalie DeWitt, began work this week at Blau's Stanford lab. Both DeWitt and the agency told the California Stem Cell Report that she had no role in
the review of the Blau application.
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