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SACRAMENTO _ The new president of California's fledgling stem cell institute cordially took a grilling yesterday from a joint legislative committee that wants to wrest some control over $3 billion the institute will spend over the next decade.

State Sen. Deborah Ortiz, who presided over the five-hour hearing, asked institute President Zach Hall to promise that the citizens committee overseeing the initiative would consider adopting a policy that any drugs or therapies that result from the state's research efforts be made affordable and available to all Californians.


Ortiz and other legislators also criticized the oversight committee's plan to hold some working group meetings in private. And they debated protections for women who donate their eggs for research.

But all the legislators could really do was debate and ask for promises. The elected officials have no direct power over the stem cell institute, its funding or its oversight committee.

Proposition 71, the stem cell initiative, was specifically written to avoid meddling by the Legislature for the first three years.

But Ortiz is trying to work around that.

She wants to hold...