As the Trump administration continues slashing federal research funding, California is mounting one of the most ambitious state-level responses yet, a $23 billion bond measure that would create a new foundation to keep the state’s universities and research institutions afloat.
Senate Bill 895, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and co-sponsored by the University of California (UC), would place the bond on the November 2026 ballot if approved by the state legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
If voters pass it, the measure would establish the California Foundation for Science and Health Research to distribute competitive grants, loans, and funding for research facilities across the state.
The bill arrives at a precarious moment for California’s public universities. The federal government froze more than $584 million in UCLA research grants last year, targeting funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy, citing allegations of antisemitism, illegal affirmative action, and transgender athlete participation.
Federal courts have since restored most of those funds through temporary injunctions, but UC President James Milliken noted in January that $230 million in grants remain suspended or terminated across the system.
UC receives $5.7 billion annually in federal research dollars, making the current disruptions a systemic threat rather than an isolated setback. “Reductions in federal funding are already disrupting critical UC research that supports thousands of jobs, drives medical innovation, and leads to life-changing solutions that benefit everyone,” Milliken said in a statement. “The University is grateful for Sen. Wiener’s efforts to ensure that UC remains the greatest research university in the world.”
The bond proposal goes beyond simply replacing lost federal dollars. SB 895 includes provisions requiring that pharmaceuticals developed through bond-funded research be made available to Californians at a discount, and that the state be allowed to recoup a portion of licensing and royalty fees generated by resulting inventions. California’s CalRx program could also publicly manufacture bond-funded pharmaceutical discoveries, selling them at cost to state residents.
Labor unions representing tens of thousands of researchers have backed the bill, including United Auto Workers Region 6 and the Union of American Physicians and Dentists. Thirty-one members of the state legislature are co-authoring it.
The stakes are substantial. California accounts for 47 percent of U.S. biotechnology research and development spending and generates 53 percent of the nation’s biotech revenues. The life sciences sector alone supports more than one million jobs and nearly $400 billion in economic output. UC research has contributed to foundational technologies ranging from CRISPR gene editing to the first modern AI algorithms.
Whether the bond can fully offset federal losses remains an open question, but California appears unwilling to wait and find out.
