BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1931
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1931 (Torrico) - As Introduced: February 17, 2010
Policy Committee: Health Vote:19-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill extends a continuous appropriation to the University
of California established by AB 750 (Dutra), Chapter 777,
Statutes of 2000 to support the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury
Research Fund (Roman Reed Fund). Specifically, this bill extends
the repeal date of the appropriation from January 1, 2011 to
January 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT
Annual GF costs and pressures of $1 million to $2 million to
support the Roman Reed Fund. Since 2000, when the Roman Reed
Fund was established, more than $12 million in public support
has paid for scientific research that addresses spinal cord
injuries to reduce paralysis and to promote growth of nerve
cells to reduce injury. According to the author and sponsor,
this public investment has resulted in more than $50 million in
privately funded scientific support.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill, supported by numerous scientific and
patient groups, extends an appropriation that supports
research about spinal cord injury as well as paralysis,
traumatic brain injury, muscular dystrophy, stroke, and spinal
atrophy. The Fund is named after Roman Reed, a Bay Area
football player who was paralyzed during a game.
The Roman Reed Foundation indicates over 300 Californians have
participated in 120 Fund-supported projects. In addition,
several dozen graduate students have been supported as Roman
Reed Fellows, 175 scientific papers have been published, are
AB 1931
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two patents pending, and several major scientific
breakthroughs are attributed to the funding addressed in this
bill.
2)Proposition 71 was approved by voters in November 2004 to
authorize the state to sell $3 billion in general obligation
bonds to provide funding for stem cell research in California.
The issue was put before the voters to address federal
restrictions on the use of human embryonic stem cells.
Recently federal bans on the use of stem cells have been
lifted. The funding addressed in this bill has a similar focus
to some of the Proposition 71-funded research.
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081