The presidential election has understandably been the focus of much discussion here. There are many elections, however, next Tuesday and one of the most important of these involves a ballot initiative in California that should be of interest to readers. Proposition 71, as it is called, would commit the state of California to spending some $3 billion on embryonic stem cell research. The money would be raised through a bond issue that would eventually (over 30 years) cost the state about $6 billion. The specifics of the legislation are published by the State of California here. The most extensive account of the initiative campaign was published in the New Yorker. The basics of the initiative include the creation and funding of a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine governed by a powerful board composed mostly of of experts in the field and representatives of various disease advocacy groups. The legislation would also amend the state constitution to create a right to perform biotechnology research and production that includes cloning. As the New Yorker piece says, one intent among the promoters of the initiative is to lure the best stem cell researchers from around the country to California and create pressure for other states to follow California's lead as a way of preventing the exodus of all their own experts and private research money, thus effecting a general spread of state (as opposed to federal) funding of embryonic stem cell research. So the stakes here are very high. Earlier this week, after a long period of equivocating, Governer Schwarzenegger endorsed the initiative.