Court Asked to Expedite Stem Cell Research Suits

SAN FRANCISCO —  The state attorney general asked a California appellate court Wednesday to expedite lawsuits that have paralyzed the voter-approved $3-billion stem cell research initiative, after plaintiffs confirmed that they will appeal.

Proposition 71, passed in November 2004, aimed to circumvent federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and channel more money into the science than any other U.S. effort.

In their request for speedy resolution, state and stem cell research officials warned that other states and countries are leapfrogging California, as institutions here that are awaiting funding sit in limbo.

The lawsuits by religious and taxpayer groups were rejected in April by an Alameda County Superior Court judge.

“Obviously we think the trial court was wrong,” said Dana Cody, executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation, which opposes embryonic stem cell research on religious grounds but represents plaintiffs who steered clear of such arguments.

Instead, People’s Advocate and the National Tax Limitation Foundation contended that Proposition 71 was unconstitutional because it created a taxpayer-funded entity that is not under the management and control of the state.

Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw rejected that argument on several grounds. Cody said, “We think her opinion was basically that Prop. 71 is constitutional because Prop. 71 says it is.”

Cody’s lawsuit was consolidated with one filed by the California Family Bioethics Council. They argued that the voter-approved California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s board has conflicts of interest and that Proposition 71 violated the single-subject rule.