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They're talking about pain at the $3 billion California stem cell agency. And mortality. But not the end of life as you and I know it.
They're talking about the pain that comes from cutting off millions of dollars for scientists. They're talking about what will happen when the state stops borrowing money to finance stem cell research – a final-breath moment that arrives in about five years.
One might think that this is the natural order of business nowadays in California. However, the state's stem cell agency has been the great exception during these troubled financial times.
Thanks to Proposition 71, the agency is well shielded from the state's fiscal typhoons. The 2004 ballot initiative that created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM as the agency is formally known, also provided a direct stream of state bond cash. The governor and lawmakers cannot legally get their fingers on CIRM's money.
But there are limits. When the bond authorization runs out, CIRM will need more cash. One remote possibility is voter approval of more bonds. The agency...