Feb. 27 court date for Charter test of stem cell program; Foes say enterprise is illegal because it's outside state control

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw set a trial for Feb. 27 to decide whether California's Proposition 71 stem cell program violates the state Constitution.

Sabraw presided over a 30-minute hearing in her Hayward courtroom Tuesday to work out a timetable for the next critical phase in litigation brought by plaintiffs who say the voter-approved stem cell enterprise is illegal because it operates outside "the exclusive management and control of the state."

While the court proceeding was under way, stem cell policymakers were in Southern California to lay groundwork for their long-awaited first round of financing. Their goal is to generate up to $50 million, more than enough to cover initial training grants for would-be stem cell scientists at California medical schools and other nonprofit research institutions.

Officials meeting at City of Hope Cancer Research Center outside Los Angeles adopted guidelines governing profit rights and other "intellectual property" rules for researchers receiving Prop. 71 grants. A much more detailed review of final policies is just beginning.

Critics argue that stem cell policy makers are allowing researchers too much control...