Dr. Anita Hargrave’s study cleared one of the toughest funding hurdles in medical research: It received a perfect score from the National Institutes of Health, the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world.
At any other time, a perfect score would typically guarantee funding. But Hargrave has been waiting over eight months, caught in a federal slowdown.
California is now hoping to step in. Today, state lawmakers advanced Senate Bill 895, a $12 billion research bond proposed by Sen. Scott Wiener that UCSF researchers say would help close funding gaps and safeguard them from what they describe as politically motivated cuts.
The bill passed the State Senate in a 29-9 vote, sending it to the State Assembly; all nine “no” votes were cast by Republicans.
SB 895, co-sponsored by the University of California, would require passage in the assembly, sign-off from the governor and, ultimately, voter approval. It would create a state-led foundation for science and health research to fund grants and research facilities throughout California.
President Donald Trump’s gutting of NIH funding in February 2025 has led to a national slowdown in new grants: The agency is on track to award far fewer grants than in previous years.
The bill would not fully replace federal research funding in California, but supporters say it would create a state backstop to keep some projects, staff and facilities afloat as federal dollars are delayed or frozen.
Dr. Vanessa Jacoby, UCSF’s associate vice chancellor for clinical research, said that would make all the difference for someone like Hargrave.
Hargrave, a UCSF researcher, has been waiting for the final word on a $1.5 million grant from the NIH, which would fund her work investigating why smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death for women in the United States.
And for UCSF, the stakes are high, researchers say. The university is one of the country’s largest recipients of NIH funding for medical research, and San Francisco’s second-largest employer.
According to Jacoby, NIH funding accounts for about a third of UCSF’s research funding overall, and the impacts of federal cuts and delays are already being felt. Research staff have faced layoffs, community-based organizations that partner with UCSF have lost funding and some patients are waiting for clinical trials that have been delayed, downsized or canceled.
UCSF is not alone in this. Federal research spending has slowed sharply across the country. An analysis by the Association of American Medical Colleges found that, as of March 20, the NIH had committed 34 percent less funding for research grants compared to 2024. New awards were 63 percent behind the prior five-year average.
Dr. Lauren Haack, a clinical child psychologist at UCSF, said one of her NIH-funded studies, which has been going for over 10 years, has been on pause for about five months — not due to the merits of the research, but because the NIH issued a policy halting funding for studies that incorporate research in other countries.
Her study focuses on the mental health of immigrant youth in the United States, and incorporates research on the mental health of children in Mexico. Haack said the new policy left her team uncertain about whether they would keep their jobs, prevented her from hiring new staff and forced hours of contingency planning.
For Haack, the bond would give California researchers a funding lifeline at a time when federal research dollars have become vulnerable to sudden political shifts.
Wiener said the bill grew out of frustration over the Trump administration’s cuts to research.
“I woke up one day and I was reading yet another article about Trump and Musk gutting federal science agencies and cutting scientific research funding,” Wiener said in an interview with Mission Local. “I just got really angry.”
Wiener acknowledged that the bill could face a difficult path. Bonds require broad support in the legislature, agreement between the State Senate, State Assembly and governor, and voter approval.
“Bonds are always very hard politically in the Legislature,” Wiener said. “It’s not guaranteed.”
The bill also comes as California faces a budget deficit and as lawmakers are weighing other bond measures, including one that would finance affordable housing.
But UCSF researchers said the effects of federal cuts and delays go far beyond research universities. Funding cuts are threatening lives, Jacoby said. Clinical trials for metastatic cancer, pulmonary disease, sexually transmitted infection prevention and air quality monitoring have been slowed, reduced or stopped.
Cuts to federal funding also threaten the careers of researchers, Haack said — especially those from less privileged backgrounds who rely on paid research positions and internships to launch their careers at UCSF.
“I fear that we’re going to lose a whole generation of researchers,” she said.