Stem Cell Spending Fight Builds -LAT

[Rose Siding]

...The long-simmering disagreement between State Sen. Deborah Ortiz — a key supporter of Proposition 71 — and the initiative's author, Bob Klein, intensified Monday when Ortiz introduced legislation to impose several rules on the agency that will govern stem cell spending.

Ortiz's proposal includes requirements that the state share in royalties from any discoveries and would place agency board members under the same ethical guidelines as state officials.

The Sacramento Democrat acknowledged that such guidelines could be set by the 27-member governing board still being appointed by politicians and university chancellors. But Ortiz said she felt personally responsible to guarantee high standards are enacted.

Although she campaigned for Proposition 71's passage, she said from the start that she felt it did not provide adequate specifics on key matters such as guaranteeing that Californians can afford the treatments they paid to develop, providing profit sharing for the state and ensuring transparency in how the billions are spent.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stemcell7dec07,0,3509083.story?coll=la-home-local