Stem cells on the ballot

California's ballot measures often reveal much about the broader U.S. policy environment. This is particularly true of the approval by the state's voters in November of Proposition 14, The California Stem Cell Research, Treatments, and Cures Initiative of 2020. Proposition 14 extends the 2004 ballot Proposition 71, which established the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and authorized $3 billion in state-issued bonds for CIRM to fund stem cell and regenerative research and medicine (restricted to California). Proposition 14, which authorizes $5.5 billion over the next 10 years to continue CIRM's work, succeeded in part by informing voters of CIRM's successes and that its conflict-of-interest provisions are extremely strong. This state-level action is critical because, contrary to opponents' opinions, the overall policy environment for human stem cell research in the United States is in some ways worse now than when Proposition 71 passed.