State Stem Cell Agency Upheld in Court
A state appeals court in San Francisco earlier this week upheld the constitutionality of California’s $3 billion stem cell agency.  The strongly worded opinion supports a lower court ruling last spring that found the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine not to be in violation of laws concerning state spending, the structure of ballot initiatives or rules regarding conflicts of interest.  While it is expected that the challengers will appeal, the decisive ruling may result in the California Supreme Court turning down the case, enabling the state to begin issuing bonds as soon as 120 days from now.

Legislative Priorities become Clear as Bill Deadline Passes
Members of the State Assembly and Senate finalized and submitted legislative proposals for 2007 as the bill introduction deadline passed on Friday, February 23.  Below are brief summaries of key pieces of legislation of interest to CHI members and the life sciences community.

• Health Care Reform: Reform of the health care system in California has emerged as a top priority for leading policymakers.  Over the past few months, proposals to expand coverage have come from the Governor’s office, as well as Senate Pro Tem Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and the Senate Republican Caucus.  While general ideas and concepts have been made public, detailed legislative language has yet to be completed.  Currently “spot bills” have been introduced that serve as placeholders until comprehensive language is released.  One exception to this is a proposal, SB 840, by Senator Sheila Keuhl (D-Santa Monica), who has introduced legislation that would create a state-funded single-payer system statewide.
• Intellectual Property: Strong intellectual property (IP) protection is essential for the development of new therapies and medical technologies.  Without strong protections there will not be incentives for businesses to invest in new research and development.  Several proposals have been introduced that would increase the state’s role in regulating IP, generally with negative consequences for industry.  SB 606, authored by Senator Jack Scott (D-Altadena), would require that companies make all clinical trial information publicly available.  CHI is concerned that release of certain proprietary trade secret information would be mandated under this legislation.  Other IP related proposals address state-funded research including SB 771, authored by Senators Sheila Keuhl (D-Santa Monica) and George Runner (R-Antelope Valley), and AB 1456, authored by Assemblyman Gene Mullin (D-South San Francisco).  CHI is concerned that certain revenue sharing and price regulations mandated under these bills would discourage private companies from licensing inventions produced with state funding, potentially slowing the development of new therapies and treatments.
• Education: Continuing a national trend, legislators from both sides of the aisle have introduced measures to improve California’s competitiveness in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  At the K-12 level as well as in the states’ community colleges and institutions of higher learning, proposals seek to improve the quality of educators and raise curriculum standards.  CHI believes that these are important efforts to re-establish California at the forefront of technological innovation and to meet the employment demands of the life sciences industry.  Proposals include AB 1062, authored by Jose Solario (D-Santa Anna), SB 405, authored by Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), SB 507, authored by Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch), SB 949, authored by Mark Wyland (R-Solana Beach), and SB 1008 and SB 1010, authored by Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta).
• Tax Policy: Recent trends have shown that other states and countries are attempting to attract businesses from California.  CHI is encouraged by several tax initiatives that offer incentives to companies to continue doing business in the state.  Proposals include AB 135, authored by Guy Houston (R-San Ramon) and AB 1147, authored by Gene Mullin (D-South San Francisco) and Sally Leiber (D-Mountain View), relating to net-operating loss carryovers.  AB 751, authored by Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Nigel) and SB 359, authored by George Runner (R-Antelope Valley) would increase the state research and development tax credit.  And Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) has introduced a spot bill, AB 1591, that would revise the formula for apportioning corporate income tax.

Registration Open for California Life Sciences Day
Join with leaders in biotechnology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biomedical research in Sacramento on Wednesday, March 28 to build support for the issues that matter most to California’s medical innovators.  Attendees will participate in face-to-face meetings with legislators and state government officials; network at a luncheon featuring a keynote address by a leading policy maker; and join legislators and their staffs at a closing reception at the historic Sutter Club.  CHI would like to recognize the sponsors of the event: AdvaMed, Allergan, Amgen, Amylin, BIO, Genentech, Gen-Probe, Gilead, MDMA, MedImmune, NVCA, Pfizer, and PhRMA.  Register online today.  For more information, visit www.lifesciencesday.org or contact Callie Robbins (858.551.6677 or robbins@chi.org).