Long Road Ahead for Stem Cell Initiative Proposal to Finance Research Qualifies for State Ballot

A $3 billion state proposition to promote controversial stem cell research in California qualified Thursday for the November ballot, opening what promises to be a bruising campaign that pits moral critics of the research against family members of people with incurable diseases.

The ballot initiative represents an ambitious attempt to circumvent President Bush's stem cell policy, which severely restricts research in the field. Even so, some promoters of the research say state funding would set a dangerous precedent in departing from the system of federally financed biomedical research.

Supporters of the "California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative" said they turned in about 1.1 million signatures to California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, almost twice the minimum needed to put the measure before state voters in the presidential election on Nov. 2.

The measure, which requires a simple majority to pass, would authorize an average $295 million a year in state-backed bonds to be issued over 10 years. Although the bonds would be guaranteed by tax revenue, no payments would be due for the first five years.

The ballot measure...