Stem cell agency's public access draws criticism

An increasing number of public watchdogs are concerned that the committee overseeing $3 billion in funding for stem cell research is moving too quickly, trampling the state's open-meetings law and risking violation of the public's trust.

When the committee holds its second meeting today, critics want it to establish bylaws and conflict-of-interest policies before proceeding with other business, including hiring a president for the Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Such measures would help assure taxpayers the grant money is funding research that could lead to cures for disease, and not enriching committee members, the critics say.

"What is at risk is something notoriously difficult to recapture once lost – public confidence," Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware wrote in a letter sent Monday to all members of the oversight committee.

Californians Aware, a nonprofit group endorsing open government, is the latest group to weigh in with concerns about the committee, which meets today in Los Angeles.

Much of the agenda for the committee's first meeting last month was postponed to today after public interest lawyer Charles Halpern complained that the...