BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          AB 714 (Wieckowski) - Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research  
          Fund.
          
          Amended: June 24, 2013          Policy Vote: Health 9-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: August 30, 2013                           
          Consultant: Brendan McCarthy    
          
          SUSPENSE FILE.
          
          
          Bill Summary: AB 714 would appropriate $1 million from the  
          General Fund to support the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury  
          Research Act.

          Fiscal Impact: One-time $1 million General Fund appropriation.

          Background: Existing law, the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury  
          Research Act of 1999, creates the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury  
          Research Program within the University of California.  The Act  
          authorizes the University of California to establish a spinal  
          cord injury research fund, independent of the State Treasury, to  
          accept public and private funds for expenditure for spinal cord  
          injury research programs, grants, and peer review and grant  
          administration.  The program is administered by the Reeve-Irvine  
          Research Center at UC Irvine. About $15 million in state  
          funding, primarily from the General Fund, was allocated from  
          2000 through 2009 for expenditure on the program.  State funding  
          has not been provided for the program in recent years.

          Proposed Law: AB 714 would appropriate $1 million from the  
          General Fund to support the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury  
          Research Act.

          Related Legislation: AB 1657 (Wieckowski, 2012) would have added  
          an additional penalty assessment of $1 for every fine or penalty  
          imposed by a court under the Vehicle Code, in order to generate  
          revenues to support the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research  
          Act. That bill was vetoed by Governor Brown. The Governor  
          indicated in his veto message that additional traffic fines were  
          not an appropriate fund source for this program.









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