Editorial: Cellular mutation

In her latest effort to reform California's $3 billion stem cell research institute, state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, has introduced SB 401, a proposed ballot measure that seeks to close gaps in Proposition 71, the 2004 initiative that created the stem cell agency.
By our measure, Ortiz's bill doesn't go far enough. It doesn't require scientists reviewing multimillion-dollar grants to disclose publicly any interest in companies that could benefit from those grants. Such a requirement should be the bottom line for any changes in Proposition 71.

Fortunately, there is time to improve this legislation before it comes before the Assembly. The bill, however, has had one positive effect: It has prompted Robert Klein II, the institute's chairman and Proposition 71's author, to concede that initiatives are a poor way to make policy.
Klein made the comment on an early version of Ortiz's bill: "This is legislation that creates an initiative. So if this is passed, you can't even, if there's an error in it, you couldn't even change it with legislation. You have to go back to the voters with...