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This thread is of special concern to NJ residents. If you’re Pro-Life, you might want to know how your tax money is being spent the message was sent out by New Jersey Right To Life.
January 4, 2004
Dear Pro-Life Friends:
Below is an article that appeared in today’s Star Ledger which confirms Acting Governor Codey’s plan to push for more funding for the NJ Stem Cell Institute. We anticipated this proposal as outlined on p. 3 of our fall, 2004 NJRTL NewsAlert. Please call, write and email your two Assembly members and State Senator and tell them to oppose any ballot iniatitive to use bonds or taxpayer money to fund the NJ Stem Cell Institute. If you do not know the names of your two Assembly members and State Senator, you can call the Office of Legislative Services at 1-800-792-8630. You can also obtain information by going to the following website:
[
Pleasenjleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp](New Jersey Legislature - Find Your Legislator) forward any responses you receive from your legislators to me by email or regular mail at the address below. Thank you.
Marie Tasy
New Jersey Right to Life, 113 North Avenue West, Cranford, NJ 07016
Acting governor seeking $500 million investment
Tuesday, January 04, 2005 BY JOSH MARGOLIN AND JEFF WHELAN
Star-Ledger Staff
Acting Gov. Richard Codey plans to propose investing $500 million in stem cell research as a key component of the State of the State speech he will deliver next week, according to two administration officials and a state lawmaker.
Codey, who has long championed stem cell research, believes the move is necessary for New Jersey to stay competitive with California, which approved a $3 billion bond issue for stem cell research last fall.
The money would help fund the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey, to be built in New Brunswick. Codey, through legislation, helped then-Gov. James E. McGreevey establish the institute as the first of its kind in the nation last year.
While details are still being worked out, Codey’s plan would use $200 million in untapped bond money to help pay for capital investments in the institute, and it also would include an initiative on the November ballot asking voters to authorize the state to issue bonds to raise another $30 million per year over 10 years, two administration officials said. Sean Darcy, a spokesman for Codey, declined to comment yesterday.
Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), one of the Legislature’s biggest advocates of stem cell research, said he has been working closely with Codey on the initiative and confirmed the $500 million price tag. He said Codey’s plan would be modeled on California’s but would be “tweaked to reduce a lot of the bureaucracy that California’s sets up.” He also said he would push for more funding.
“Dick is proposing half a billion. I think it is a good thing to get started,” Cohen said. “I’m proposing $1 billion. The reason I want to do more is to make a commitment. And I don’t want to have to keep going back to the voters every couple of years on a new referendum.”
New Jersey scientists have been pressing lawmakers for a $1 billion bond issue paid out over five years, but that has caused concern among some lawmakers because a series of recent bond issues have ballooned the state debt. Codey has called finding more money for stem cell research one of his “highest priorities,” but shortly before he took office in November he said the $1 billion figure was not “practical.”
Stem cells, the building blocks for other human cells, can be used to rebuild damaged and diseased parts of the body. Many scientists say stem cell research also holds hope for new treatments and cures for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and a host of other ailments. But the use of stem cells taken from human embryos remains controversial because the embryos are destroyed when the cells are extracted.
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January 4, 2004
Dear Pro-Life Friends:
Below is an article that appeared in today’s Star Ledger which confirms Acting Governor Codey’s plan to push for more funding for the NJ Stem Cell Institute. We anticipated this proposal as outlined on p. 3 of our fall, 2004 NJRTL NewsAlert. Please call, write and email your two Assembly members and State Senator and tell them to oppose any ballot iniatitive to use bonds or taxpayer money to fund the NJ Stem Cell Institute. If you do not know the names of your two Assembly members and State Senator, you can call the Office of Legislative Services at 1-800-792-8630. You can also obtain information by going to the following website:
[
Pleasenjleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp](New Jersey Legislature - Find Your Legislator) forward any responses you receive from your legislators to me by email or regular mail at the address below. Thank you.
Marie Tasy
New Jersey Right to Life, 113 North Avenue West, Cranford, NJ 07016
Acting governor seeking $500 million investment
Tuesday, January 04, 2005 BY JOSH MARGOLIN AND JEFF WHELAN
Star-Ledger Staff
Acting Gov. Richard Codey plans to propose investing $500 million in stem cell research as a key component of the State of the State speech he will deliver next week, according to two administration officials and a state lawmaker.
Codey, who has long championed stem cell research, believes the move is necessary for New Jersey to stay competitive with California, which approved a $3 billion bond issue for stem cell research last fall.
The money would help fund the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey, to be built in New Brunswick. Codey, through legislation, helped then-Gov. James E. McGreevey establish the institute as the first of its kind in the nation last year.
While details are still being worked out, Codey’s plan would use $200 million in untapped bond money to help pay for capital investments in the institute, and it also would include an initiative on the November ballot asking voters to authorize the state to issue bonds to raise another $30 million per year over 10 years, two administration officials said. Sean Darcy, a spokesman for Codey, declined to comment yesterday.
Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), one of the Legislature’s biggest advocates of stem cell research, said he has been working closely with Codey on the initiative and confirmed the $500 million price tag. He said Codey’s plan would be modeled on California’s but would be “tweaked to reduce a lot of the bureaucracy that California’s sets up.” He also said he would push for more funding.
“Dick is proposing half a billion. I think it is a good thing to get started,” Cohen said. “I’m proposing $1 billion. The reason I want to do more is to make a commitment. And I don’t want to have to keep going back to the voters every couple of years on a new referendum.”
New Jersey scientists have been pressing lawmakers for a $1 billion bond issue paid out over five years, but that has caused concern among some lawmakers because a series of recent bond issues have ballooned the state debt. Codey has called finding more money for stem cell research one of his “highest priorities,” but shortly before he took office in November he said the $1 billion figure was not “practical.”
Stem cells, the building blocks for other human cells, can be used to rebuild damaged and diseased parts of the body. Many scientists say stem cell research also holds hope for new treatments and cures for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and a host of other ailments. But the use of stem cells taken from human embryos remains controversial because the embryos are destroyed when the cells are extracted.
CONTINUED