would create the California Institute for Scientific Research, which would give grants and loans to universities and other organizations and companies.
The bill targets mostly public health and environmental areas already facing cuts by the Trump administration, like disease prevention and weather forecasting.
San Francisco Democratic Senator Scott Wiener 鈥� chair of the Senate budget committee 鈥� co-authored the bill and said he wants to curb the impact of the federal government鈥檚 unpredictable cuts.
鈥淭hey could blow a huge hole in our budget,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don't know what they're going to do, we don't know if they're going to succeed, and we don't know when they're going to do it.鈥�
Erin O鈥橬eal is the director of the Capital Center for Law and Policy at the University of the Pacific. She said that a lot happening at the federal level right now, including cuts to research funding, stand to negatively impact the state鈥檚 finances.
鈥淭he ability of Californians to continue to safeguard public health, to have innovation on the research and development front 鈥� I mean 鈥� this obviously also has economic consequences for the state. California's research is an economic generator,鈥� she said.
But she added that the new bill could create major costs for the state on its own.
The Legislative Analyst鈥檚 Office , but shortfalls in the years to come, and that was before fires broke out in Los Angeles or the new Trump administration began making cuts.
The legislation would task CalRx 鈥� the state鈥檚 project for making and delivering low-cost medicines 鈥� with procuring and distributing vaccines.
Senator Wiener said cuts and rhetoric on vaccines from the Trump administration motivated him to include them.
鈥淚t's horrifying and so we don't know what the future holds for vaccines at the federal level,鈥� he said.
At the same time, . While the program has been successful in dispensing Naloxone, it鈥檚 been slow to follow through with Governor Gavin Newsom鈥檚 directive to create and distribute insulin.
鈥淚f there's a different way to do it, that's fine. I'm not I'm not religious about these things. I just want to get it done,鈥� he said.