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STEM CELL BATTLES
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Dear Friend of Stem Cell Research:
I ask you to send one email to eight people, the members of the California Senate Rules Committee.
Here is a suggested email. Feel free to use any part of it. At the top of the letter, put:
Your name, address, and phone number, (They need to know you are a real person):
RE: Opposition to Senate Bill 1565 (Kuehl,Runner).
Dear Senator:
As a (state your reason for supporting stem cell research, for example, as the father of a paralyzed young man) I strongly oppose Senate Bill 1565, (Kuehl,Runner).
Please be aware that Senate Bill 1565 has been changed since you voted on it. The bill now contains a poison pill amendment, offered by Senator George Runner, a known opponent of the California stem cell research program. The Runner amendment not only defies the will of the voters, but may violate the California Constitution.
First, here is our stem cell program’s current law, which was enacted by the electorate, and written into the California State Constitution:
“(C) … a high priority shall be placed on funding pluripotent stem cell and progenitor cell research that cannot, or is unlikely to, receive timely or sufficient federal funding…Other research categories…shall not be funded by the institute.” --Article XXXV of the California Constitution: Section 5, Chapter 3. California Stem Cell Research and Cures Bond Act, Article 1. 125290.60.
As you know, our stem cell program may only be amended to “…enhance the ability of the institute to further the purposes of…the measure…”—Section 8, Amendments.
And Senator Runner’s amendment, recently added to SB 1565?
“(D) “Notwithstanding paragraph (C), any other scientific and medical research and technologies and/or any stem cell research proposal not actually funded by the institute under subparagraph (C) may be funded by the institute...”
This turns our program upside down! Proposition 71 was enacted by the voters to give priority to forms of stem cell research not likely to be funded by the federal government. The Runner amendment removes that priority, and would instead allow precious research dollars to be spent on “any other scientific and medical technologies”. That could be almost anything; a bedpan is a piece of medical technology.
How can such a complete reversal be said to “further the purposes” of our stem cell program? Such seeming violations of the Constitution are almost certain to invite legal actions; have we not had enough lawsuits, enough delays?
The original intention of SB 1565, to guarantee access of stem cell therapies to the uninsured, has already been achieved, and without the need for this bill. Bill author Senator Sheila Kuehl, a highly respected legislator, has publicly stated that she and CIRM (California Institute for Regenerative Medicine) are “on the same page” regarding how low-income residents could receive benefits from CIRM-developed products.
But the Runner amendment could gut the California stem cell program.
Those who know, oppose. SB 1565 is opposed by the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, which is a board of more than 80 medical, educational, and disease advocacy groups: as well as every other stem cell research support group which has taken a position on the issue.
On behalf of every California family with a loved one suffering from chronic disease or disability, I urge your “NO” vote on Senate Bill 1565, when it comes before you for concurrence.
Thank you.
YOUR NAME
Below are the email addresses. If you have time, also consider calling to leave a message (just say your name, and that you want the Senator to know you are in strong opposition to Senate Bill 1565), and best of all, a letter or fax. (Full contact information follows.)
Write your letter, cut and paste it for each of the following Senators. (use any part of the sample letter you wish). Remember (for those as computer challenged as myself) you can just put the cursor on the email address and then press control click, and you will go right to the email with the address already done for you. Or, if you are really stressed for time, type all the emails into the address box and one letter to all. Individually is better, but anything is better than nothing.
How you contact them is up to you. But consider this: if these Senators do not hear from the stem cell research support community, SB 1565 will absolutely pass—and we will be faced with a much larger and more difficult battle to undo the changes that will be thrown at us—at a time when we should be focusing our efforts at the national level.
For more information, go to www.stemcellbattles.com, and click on archives.
Here is full contact information.
Don Perata State Capitol, Room 205 Fax (916) 327-1997 1515 Clay Street, #2202 Fax (510) 286-3885 State Capitol, Room 500 (916) 323-2277
Leland Yee State Capitol, Room 4048
Gloria Remero Capitol Office District Office
Carole Migden State Capitol, Room 5114 Marin/San Rafael District Office Marin Civic Center 455 Golden Gate Ave
Jim Battin Capitol Office State Capitol, Room 3063 Sacramento, CA 95814 Fax (916) 327-2187
Gilbert Cedillo State Capitol, Room 5100 Fax (916) 327-8817 617 South Olive Street
Robert Dutton Capitol Office Fax (916) 327-2272 District Office Fax (909) 466-4185 District Office Fax (951) 715-2627
Alex Padilla 916-651-4020 Fax (916) 324-6645 818-901-5588 Fax (818) 901-5562
Don C. Reed
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