Posts Tagged: boards

Stem cell agency’s key meetings going live on the Internet

A simulated view through a microscope of bacterias in the shape of California. (Illustration: Pat Bengtsson, via Shutterstock)

by DAVID JENSEN posted 01.11.2016

With no fanfare, California’s $3 billion stem cell agency is making a significant step forward in openness and transparency regarding the dealings of its governing board, which operates outside of the control of the governor and Legislature. Tuesday’s meeting of the directors’ Science Subcommittee will be available live for the first time — for all practical purposes — on the Internet and as an audiocast, including access to presentations that are used at the meeting.

A failure to ride herd over a major state computer project more than tripled the cost, led to numerous delays and allowed scores of warnings to slip by without being addressed, according to a sharply critical report from the state auditor.

Full funding of the troubled California State Teachers Retirement System has been approved by the Legislature, with most of the additional $5 billion coming from school districts that get no offsetting money from the state.

A first-in-the nation bill to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in the exploration for underground oil and gas deposits was approved by the Legislature and sent to the governor’s desk.