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What’s the Background? Medical research is on the brink of achieving major breakthroughs in preventing and treating some of the most common, deadly, and debilitating diseases – including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes.Immunology (the study of the body’s immune system and how it protects us from disease) and immunotherapy (treatments that help the immune system fight disease) hold the key to saving lives AND saving billions of dollars in costs. Basic medical research is primarily conducted by universities including the University of California, which has several world-class medical schools and health science research centers.
Federal funding cuts and ongoing uncertainty are disrupting this vitally needed medical research and delaying progress toward life-saving cures. Proposition 38 creates stable funding to secure California’s leadership in medical innovation while supporting high-skilled research jobs and protecting our university system.
What would Proposition 38 do?
- Authorize $8.4 billion in state bonds for immunology and immunotherapy research.
- Require that at least $4.2 billion be dedicated to cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s research.
- Allocate 50% of the funds to a University of California-affiliated non-profit research institute selected by the California Department of Public Health (see the last row of the table below).
- Allocate the remaining 50% for competitive research grants to researchers at the California institutions represented on the awarding Council.
- Mandate that resulting technology and drugs be offered to Californians at a 20% discount.
- Require that 10% of any revenue from program-funded discoveries be paid to the state to repay the bond.
- Cap state administrative costs at no more than 2% of total bond funds.
- Solidify California’s position as a global hub for health innovation and biotechnology leadership.
- Cost the state between $500-$600 million annually for about 20 years – about 0.25% of the General Fund budget – with some or all of that cost offset if the funded research generates revenue.
| What They Want You to Believe | What Are the Facts? |
| While there may be benefits in terms of health breakthroughs, there are no tangible financial benefits for California. | Expanding California’s biotech industry is not just good for science — it creates good-paying jobs, generates economic output, and stimulates new sources of revenue for the state. Prop 38 also requires grant recipients to buy at least half of their goods and services from California suppliers when reasonably possible – generating jobs in adjacent industries and increasing tax revenues for the state as industries grow and jobs are added. |
| Research priorities should not be guided by ballot measures. | Priorities and grant recipients will be set by a Council consisting of representatives from 7 University of California campuses and 10-15 other universities and non-profit research institutions – named by those campuses and institutions themselves, not by the Legislature or the measure’s authors. |
| The long-term obligation to repay the debt would further reduce the state’s fiscal flexibility to respond to changing priorities. | 10% of revenue from the licensing of successful immunotherapies will be returned to California to offset the costs of the bond, AND California will receive a 20% discount on technology and drugs derived from research – which could help hold down Medi-Cal and other costs. |
| This is really a $4.2 billion earmark for one billionaire’s institute. | Half goes to one institute: presumed to be the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, a non-profit at UCLA whose co-founder funds the YES campaign. It is publicly accountable – annual public reporting, independent audits, and a duty to collaborate with grant-funded researchers statewide. |
ENDORSED BY:
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Endorsed by: the California Democratic Party, ALS Association, Alzheimer’s Association/AIM, American Nurses Association\California, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Parkinson Association of Northern California, California Colorectal Cancer Coalition, and others