FWG Meeting Procedures

The Scientific and Medical Research Facilities Working Group (Facilities Working Group) is committed to an open and public process. While Proposition 71 provides that the Facilities Working Group is not bound by formal State open-meeting requirements, the business of this Working Group will be conducted in a spirit of openness and participation so that the recommendations of the Working Group reflect both the expertise of its members and the input of the people of California.

The Facilities Working Group does not make final decisions on matters, but will provide recommendations to the 29-member Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee on a variety of important topics. Included will be the interim and final evaluation criteria, requirements and standards for the application process, grant oversight procedures, and recommendations on the awarding of, grants and loans for buildings, building leases, and capital equipment. Because the quality of the scientific research agenda will justify the need for specific kinds of facilities, it is expected that there will be frequent and effective communication with the Scientific and Medical Research Funding Working Group (Grants Working Group), which is charged with evaluating the scientific merit of submitted proposals.

As the Facilities Working Group refines its processes, gains operating experience, and better defines the range of its activities, modifications to these procedures may be required. Changes to these procedures will be proposed to, discussed by and, if appropriate, acted upon by the ICOC in due course.

Through the following steps, which will engage the public at critical milestones, the Facilities Working Group will carry out its review functions and make recommendations to the ICOC as applicable:

  • Give public notice of meetings in a timely manner and post proposed meeting agendas;
  • Hold public meetings and provide public comment periods during each meeting;
  • Take public votes of the Working Group members on decisions and recommendations to the ICOC;
  • Meet in Confidential Session only when necessary, driven by the existence of special circumstances or needs including one or more of the following:
    • Protection of confidentiality of land negotiations.
    • Protection of confidentiality of construction contract negotiations
    • Receipt of confidential input from the Grants Working Group regarding the scientific portions of proposals.
    • Receipt of confidential input from the Grants Working Group on the strength of stem cell research programs at applying institutions and their ability to execute the scope of the proposed research.
    • Additional donors who wish to have their donations kept confidential.
    • Financial information about an institution that must be kept confidential.

Members of the Facilities Working Group may participate in meetings from any number of locations through telephone or other available connection so long as all participants can hear all other participants, and the public can listen and participate either through a telephone conference link or at a meeting site where the proceedings may be heard directly and through a loud speaker.

The public will be invited to comment at meetings of the Working Group and, in addition, it is the goal of the CIRM to configure its website to allow the public to post comments.

The Facilities Working Group will be assisted by staff, a subset of the Working Group members, or an individual Working Group member in preparing draft policies and recommendations. This process will not occur in a public meeting, but the Facilities Working Group will consider the policies and recommendations in public meetings, as described above.

All recommendations from the Facilities Working Group are subject to review, and when applicable, a vote, by the ICOC in a public meeting.