This post was updated Sept. 30 at 9:33 p.m.
A UC-backed bond measure to fund scientific research across California will appear on the March 2028 ballot.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 895, a $7.5 billion bond measure that would fund science and health research at California universities and other institutions, on Wednesday. If approved, the bill would create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research and Innovation Acceleration Fund, which would distribute grants and loans to scientific research and development projects across the state.
The foundation would fund projects spanning biomedicine, wildfire resilience, climate and environmental sciences and technology. The measure would also allocate $1 billion to maintain and repair UC and California State University research facilities.
Newsom signed the measure on his last day to sign new laws before his term as governor ends.
“California doesn’t settle for what’s possible – we shape what comes next,” Newsom said in a Wednesday press release. “We owe those dreamers and doers the opportunity to compete, succeed and thrive — because the future will always happen here first.”
Sen. Scott Wiener introduced the measure in January amid federal research funding cuts across the state.
[Related: UC-backed $7.5 billion research bond moves closer to 2028 ballot]
The federal government froze nearly $600 million in UCLA’s research grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the United States Department of Energy in July 2025, after it alleged that the university allowed antisemitism, illegal affirmative action practices and “men to participate in women’s sports.” Chancellor Julio Frenk denied the federal government’s allegations in a January interview with the Daily Bruin.
A federal judge restored most of the grants in August and September 2025, and the same judge ruled in November that the federal government could not suspend or threaten to suspend UCLA’s research grants.
[Related: One year after $584 million federal funding freeze, UCLA research still recovering]
The state Senate passed a version of the measure with a bond amount of $12 billion in May, but it missed the deadline to appear on the November ballot. The state Assembly passed the bill on Aug. 31, after it changed the bond amount to $7.5 billion.
[Related:$12 billion UC-sponsored research bond misses deadline to appear on ballot]
UC President James Milliken said in a written statement that thousands of UC faculty, staff, students, researchers and alumni helped the University advocate for the bill.
The United Auto Workers – a union representing employees in fields including academic student employment – worked for more than a year to promote SB 895, said Rafael Jaime, the president of UAW 4811, in an emailed statement to union members. The union will continue building support for the bill over the next 18 months, he added.
“This is a major achievement, made possible by an extraordinary coalition of people who understand the importance of investing in scientific research,” Milliken said in the written statement. “The University of California’s research enterprise improves lives, creates opportunity, and drives innovation and economic growth across our state and the entire nation.”
