FAQ
Prop 38 will provide $8.4 billion in state bonds to fund breakthrough immunology research to develop life-saving cures for the most persistent and debilitating diseases impacting all California families, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease – in our lifetime. This initiative represents real hope and promising cures to help save your life or the life of someone you love.
Immunotherapies use the body's own immune system to detect and stop diseases. They are already saving and extending lives for patients dealing with cancers like melanoma, lung cancer and leukemia. Leading doctors and research scientists are developing immunotherapies that have the potential to prevent and cure a whole range of diseases in our lifetime, including cancer, heart disease, neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and other diseases such as diabetes, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), HIV/AIDS, muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis. For the millions of Californians and their loved ones living with these diseases, this research represents not just hope, but the very real possibility of a cure in our lifetime.
Prop 38 is supported by a broad and diverse coalition of doctors, nurses and patient advocates, including the Alzheimer's Association, the ALS Association, City of Hope, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the International Myeloma Foundation, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Blood Cancer United, the Kidney Cancer Association, and GO2 for Lung Cancer, among many others. Together, these organizations advocate for the millions of Californians living with diseases this initiative aims to prevent and cure.
Federal funding cuts and uncertainty for California universities and research institutes are delaying medical research, threatening progress in finding cures. We are in a race against time, and patients and their loved ones can’t afford to wait. Every funding cut costs patients time, and every research breakthrough gives families more of it.
Medical research funded by this measure will be conducted here in California at leading universities and medical research institutions that are well-qualified to conduct breakthrough immunology and immunotherapy research.
That may include University of California campuses, such as UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and UC Riverside; private non-profit universities, such as Stanford, USC and Caltech; and non-profit research institutions such as City of Hope, Cedars-Sinai, and Sanford Burnham Prebys, among others.
No bond funds can be awarded to pharmaceutical companies or other for-profit corporations.
Any cure or immunotherapy developed through research funded by Prop 38 must be made available to California patients at a 20% discount below the national average. That affordability protection is written directly into the measure — it’s not optional.
Preventing and curing the most pressing diseases will also reduce long-term healthcare expenses and save the state and families tens of billions of dollars in avoided medical expenses.
Prop 38 is designed to fully pay for itself with no cost to the state or taxpayers. Ten percent (10%) of all proceeds from the licensing of immunotherapies must be returned to California to offset the total cost of the bond measure, including interest. Furthermore, preventing and curing the most pressing diseases will reduce long-term healthcare expenses and save the state and families tens of billions of dollars in avoided medical expenses. Beyond the dollars saved, every cure developed means one less family facing a devastating diagnosis and the financial and emotional burden that comes with it.
Prop 38 includes strong accountability and transparency requirements, including limiting state administrative costs to run the program to no more than 2%, requiring all grant funds to nonprofit universities and research centers be spent directly on medical research, rigorous conflict of interest rules, public disclosure of all spending and independent financial audits. Every dollar is traceable, accountable and focused on saving lives.