University of California funds $23 billion in research funding – The Mercury News
The University of California is sponsoring a bill that would put a $23 billion bond on the November ballot to fund scientific research across the state, amid widespread cuts to university research funding under the Trump administration.
“The university’s research has been under constant attack for the past year,” UC President James B. Milliken said in a statement Thursday. “This bill aims to protect incredible advances that benefit millions of Californians now and in the future. We are proud to sponsor this bill and will always stand up for science.”
The bill – Senate Bill 895 – was introduced by state Sen. Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, earlier this year. The legislation was endorsed by the United Auto Workers Region 6 and the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, the unions that represent thousands of researchers across the region.
Wiener said in a statement Thursday that he was proud to partner with the University of California, which has been a center of scientific leadership for years, in the “fight to take back control” of California’s research funding.
“As the federal government increases funding for science, California must step up to protect science and double down on global science leadership,” Wiener said.
Last year, the Trump administration cut more than $3 billion in research funding to colleges and universities, according to an estimate by the Center for American Progress, a public policy and research and advocacy organization.
Administrators cited cultural incompatibility on campuses, failure to implement diversity, equity and inclusion programs and university policies that allow transgender student-athletes to participate in sports as among the reasons for funding cuts at hundreds of higher education institutions across the country.
In California, the National Institutes of Health canceled more than $55.9 million for grants to Bay Area universities, targeting research on health equity, transgender youth, anti-racism and racism, policies, and aging.
The University of California receives more than $5 billion a year in federal funding for research and other programs, according to the university, with the NIH as its largest source of federal funding.
Last March, the University of California estimated it had lost at least $37 million. And in July, the federal government froze $584 million in research funding going to UC Los Angeles, saying the university allowed anti-Semitism, continued programs to admit transgender athletes and participate in sports. The Trump administration wanted the university to pay a $1 billion fine in return for the money, but dropped its demands last month.
UC President Milliken said in a September letter to the university community that the federal government’s threats to cut university funding “represent one of the worst threats to the University of California” in its 157-year history.
“The loss of critical research and other federal funding would devastate UC and cause real, long-term harm to our students, our faculty and staff, our patients, and all Californians,” Milken said. “It would also end life-saving research from which all Americans benefit.”
He said the loss of federal funding would mean fewer classrooms and services for students, reduced access to health care, tens of thousands of lost jobs across the region, and “an exodus of world-class students and researchers to other states or countries.” Milliken said many UC campuses are already experiencing layoffs due to federal research funding cuts and other financial pressures. The university decided to suspend an extensive recruitment program last year due to possible funding cuts.
If passed, SB 895 would establish the California Foundation for Science and Health Research, which would fund competitive research grants, low-interest loans and state-of-the-art research facilities to public and private research companies, universities, institutes and organizations for scientific research and development.
The bill also includes requirements to make health care more affordable by ensuring that Californians receive discounts on drugs developed through bond-funded research. The bill would allow the state to recoup a portion of licensing fees and royalties from inventions and technologies developed with research dollars.
The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Sasha Pérez of Pasadena and Aisha Wahab of Fremont. More than 30 legislators co-authored SB 895, including two Republicans – Assemblymember Josh Hoover, who represents Folsom, and Assemblymember Greg Wallis, who represents Rancho Mirage.
