What's at stake is qualifying the proposal so that it will be presented to voters in the fall. Earlier this week, The California Stem Cell Report analyzed the trends in the count, concluding that qualification is in the "virtual bag."
Today's figures from state officials showed 503,260 verified signatures of registered voters, up from yesterday's 492,349 . The campaign is hoping for 685,534. The qualification rate is steady at about 78 percent. If the qualification rate stays fractionally above 67 percent, the measure will be placed on the ballot.
Only 15 counties out of 58 have not filed their verification numbers. For stem cell history buffs, San Francisco, once known as Baghdad by The Bay, also was once known as the home of the stem cell agency for a number of years. The city won the headquarters in a bidding war after it promised $18 milion, including 10 years in free rent. The agency moved to Oakland when the free rent ran out because of the high cost of office space in San Francisco.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was then mayor of San Francisco and played a major role in reeling in the stem cell agency. He has not spoken publicly about whether he supports the $5.5 billion initiative.
Look for the next update on the count tomorrow evening or early Friday on the California Stem Cell Report, your only independent source of information and news about the stem cell agency for the last 15 years.
Any idea why Gavin is being mum? Do you think he is ashamed of his previous support?
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the budget cuts have made it difficult for him to support anything outside the normal business of the state.
ReplyDeleteNewsom obviously has been busy. But if he is going to endorse the measure, it would be better to wait until later this summer or early fall, when voters' attention will be more focused on California measures on the November 3 ballot. Plus he actually may have qualms about increased spending long term because of the need to pay the interest on the $5.5 billion in state borrowing. It was one thing to endorse this in 2004. The situation involving stem cell research has changed significantly. It could change again before the election.
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