$5.5 Billion California Stem Cell Initiative Moving Quickly to Qualify for November Ballot

The effort to place a $5.5 billion stem cell research initiative on the November ballot hit a key milestone this week, chalking up at least 25 percent of the signatures needed. 

In an interview yesterday with the California Stem Cell Report, Robert Klein, chairman and founder of Americans for Cures, said that he expects to have about one million signatures in hand by the end of April. 

To be be placed before voters, the initiative must have valid signatures from 623,212 voters.  To achieve that number, many more signatures are gathered because a number of them are disqualified by elections officials. The deadline for signatures for the measure is June 15.

Klein sounded optimistic about the pace of the signature-gathering effort. He said it was running slightly ahead of 2004 when he led the effort for the ballot measure that created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the stem cell agency is formally known. 

"We're gaining momentum actually," Klein said in a phone interview. 

CIRM needs a major cash infusion this year because it is running out of money. The agency was provided with $3 billion in bond funding by voters 15 years ago. It is now down to $27 million for research awards. 

Klein sent a letter Feb. 1 to the California secretary of state, the state's top election official, declaring that the effort had acquired at least 25 percent of the signatures needed. The milestone triggers legislative hearings on the initiative. 

The hearing or hearings must be held no later than 131 days before the Nov. 3 election. The legislature cannot alter the proposal, but it can offer its own version. Supporters of a proposed measure can also withdraw it. 

"This means the legislature can offer alternative legislation as a compromise in an effort to convince petitioners to withdraw certified initiatives," according to Ballotpedia. 

Klein declined to discuss specific costs of the signature gathering effort. However, it is largely done in California through firms that are paid by a measure's supporters. In 2018, the average cost of a signature was about $6.00 and ran as high as about $9.00, according to Ballotpedia.  The average total cost in 2018 was $2.6 million for qualifying an initiative. 

Klein is a real estate developer based in Palo Alto. He directed the writing of both the original initiative and the latest one and was the agency's first chairman. Americans for Cures is the stem cell advocacy group that he founded. 

(The information on costs of signature gathering was not contained in an earlier version of this item.)