California is poised to leap ahead of the federal government as a backer of stem cell research after voters last week approved a 10-year, $3 billion plan to invest in the field. But the state is likely to proceed down a familiar path: Supporters of Proposition 71, which passed by a 59% to 41% margin, say the new California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will be modeled after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in allocating its $295 million annual budget. The state bond initiative, which will support work involving nuclear transfer (socalled research cloning), was backed by a staggering array of scientists and highprofile groups and received a last-minute endorsement from Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jubilant supporters are now moving on to the next phase, beginning with the selection within 40 days of a 29-member Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee. The governor and three top state officials will each appoint five members, and five University of California campuses will also have seats at the table. The likely chair is Donald Klein, the real estate magnate who led the campaign. In January the board will set up working groups on research funding, facilities, and standards, with the last being the first order of business, says campaign spokesperson Fiona Hutton. The first awards are to be made within 60 days of issuing interim standards.

Organizers promise that the new institute, at a site yet to be selected and with a permanent staff of 50, will be a first-class operation both ethically and scientifically.“The burden is upon us to prove that we are above reproach,” says stem cell researcher Evan Snyder of the Burnham Institute in La Jolla. Stanford University stem cell researcher Irving Weissman, another leader in the campaign, expects universities to send either their presidents or medical school deans to represent them on the oversight committee, which he hopes will require re-