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California Bill to Fund Research in Wake of Trump Cuts to Be Presented to State Senate
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, announced yesterday that he will introduce a bill tomorrow proposing to place a measure on next year’s midterm election ballot to create a state fund for scientific research in response to President Donald Trump’s recent cuts to the UC system and the administration’s suggestion to the Los Angeles campus that it pay $1 billion to settle claims of antisemitism relating to pro-Palestinian protests.
In the wake of claims that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most recent budget plan papers over a deficit of $12 billion through delayed cuts and borrowing from a variety of special resources, Wiener’s proposal, Senate Bill 607, seeks to populate the research fund with $23 billion in bond dollars. The bill provides:
“As of late August 2025, the Trump administration has frozen or suspended approximately $584,000,000 in federal research grants to UCLA. The Trump administration has demanded $1,000,000,000 in fine payments to unfreeze federal funding. According to UC leaders and California officials, a $1,000,000,000 payment to the Trump administration would ‘completely devastate’ the UC system. A prolonged funding impasse could jeopardize thousands of critical research projects in medicine, engineering, and biosciences….
“Because the federal government has been one of the largest funders of scientific research in California, foundations, nonprofits, and corporations cannot make up the gap alone. Unless the people of California rise up, much of this critical work may come to a halt.”
Executive Branch Dispute
The dispute between the Executive Branch and the Golden State erupted earlier this year, when the president signed Executive Order No. 14151, which requires all federal departments to provide a list of “grantees who received [f]ederal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or ‘environmental justice’ programs, services, or activities” and directs agency heads to “terminate…all…‘equity-related’ grants.”
On Tuesday, a group of UC students, faculty, staff, and labor unions filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Trump administration, asserting free speech and due process claims relating to the termination of research grants and alleging that the president is illegally forcing “ideological dominance” over California public education. The case is American Association of University Professors v. Trump.
In June, a group of UC researchers filed suit in federal court requesting the reinstatement of federal funds in the Thakur v. Trump case. On Aug. 21, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay a preliminary injunction order by District Court Judge Rita F. Lin of the Northern District of California requiring the government to reinstate terminated grants enjoining future grant terminations.
That same day, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association, a Massachusetts dispute over the NIH’s decision to terminate $783 million in grants linked to DEI initiatives. In that case, a divided high court vacated an order requiring that the federal government continue making payments on the research projects.
Proposed Settlement
The administration turned up the heat on the university system last month, reaching out to UCLA to propose a $1 billion settlement to resolve the federal government’s claims that the school has illegally discriminated against Jewish students and faculty. The proposed settlement would include $172 million in segregated funds for parties asserting that the school violated their civil rights.
The request came about a week after the university reached a $6 million settlement with three students and a professor, each of whom is Jewish, who allege that the school violated the Civil Rights Act by allowing pro-Palestinian protesters to block their access to classes and other areas of the campus during demonstrations held last year. The Trump administration joined the lawsuit in March.
The proposed $1 billion settlement came on the heels of Columbia University’s agreement to pay $200 million to the federal government to resolve investigations into similar claims by the administration.
The Legislative Counsel’s Digest accompanying Senate Bill 607 specifies:
“The bill would create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and require the moneys in the fund to be used by the foundation to award grants and make loans to public or private research companies, universities, institutes, and organizations for scientific research and development, in specific areas of research, including, but not limited to, biomedical, behavioral, and climate research.”
According to the document, a council would be created to “develop the strategic objectives and priorities” to guide funding decisions. Assemblymember José Luis Solache Jr., D-Lynwood, who co-authored the proposal, urged the Legislature to pass the bill, saying:
“This measure makes clear that Californians will take control of our future and invest in life-saving research—because our families, our health, and our economy are too important to leave in the hands of Washington politicians playing games with people’s lives.”
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