It's already started - now that California has passed Prop. 71 to allow for $3B to go toward stem cell research over 10 years, other states are sprinting to offer funding for stem cell research within their borders. For the most part, these states fear a drain to California of companies and scientists.
Connecticut is considering taking $10-20 million out of the state's surplus to apply to university-based stem cell research. Back in November, Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin announced plans to invest $750 million in embryonic stem cell research. Massachusetts lawmakers have been discussing a plan to fund stem cell research in the state (setting up an interesting potential fight between Thomas Finneran, the popular former Speaker of the House and now president of the Mass. Biotechnology Council, and Mitt Romney and the Archdiocese of Boston).
Some New Jersey lawmakers are concerned about acting Governor Richard Codey's proposal to spend up to $500 million on stem cell research there. The Republican New Jersey lawmakers do have a point - the state is running a $4billion deficit, after all, and another half billion wouldn't help in the short run to close that gap. But maybe they should just call up their friend in Sacramento who didn't seem to have a problem in passing the bonds in California, despite its budgetary woes.
In Texas, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison supports stem cell research, but Gov. Rick Perry says he agrees with the Bush administration's ban. Still, he agrees that research in "emerging technologies" could be a boon to the state universities and economy, and will be unveiling an "aggressive" plan for funding such research.
One of my favorite proposals is out of Illinois in which Comptroller Dan Hynes proposes $1 billion in bonds, spending $100 million/year for the next ten years, to be funded by a tax on elective cosmetic surgery. The cosmetic surgeons may cry "no fair," though, if they see their botox and breast implant patient population migrating to nearby surgeons in neighboring states.
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