Zero Cost to the State for Five Years

Funding for this critical medical research will be available immediately to help accelerate promising research and the development of better treatments and cures for chronic disease and illnesses, as well as infectious diseases like COVID-19, but without any payments until 2026.

Additionally, Prop 14 limits its own impact on state bond capacity to about 0.5% in any given year, leaving 99.5% of total state bond capacity available for addressing other California priorities.

This means that Californians will get the benefits of the advancements in science and medicine without taking anything away from addressing California’s other immediate needs.

An Economic Stimulus When We Need it Most

Based on the high return economic performance of prior funding, as established by an in-depth economic study by the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, Prop 14 is projected to generate a significant economic stimulus to the state, mostly occurring in the first 10 years.

  • Almost $20 Billion in Economic Stimulus for the California economy
  • Over $1.2 Billion in New State Revenues
  • Over 100,000 full time equivalent jobs in California

Because of this, it is projected that Prop 14 will generate more funding for the state than it will pay to fund it for 10-12 years, or until 2031-2033.

This will help struggling families by providing jobs and helping the state recover economically from COVID, and it will generate more revenues for the state to help support efforts to address other needs like housing, education, and COVID relief.

Low Impact on the California Budget

Prop 14 restricts how much money can go to research in any given year, spreading the sales out for at least 10 years, unlike most bond measure which sell out within the first 1-2 years. This helps guarantee that it will have the least impact on the state budget while funding research and therapy development with the most potential, benefiting from previous years’ discoveries.

Because the cost of repaying each bond sold is spread over 25-30 years, after the first 5 years of no payments, the annual cost of supporting this life changing and lifesaving research is an average of less than $5 per person over the payback period. This is without factoring the major personal and state savings potential that better treatments and cures bring with them.

Massive Savings Potential for California’s Families and the State Budget

Right now, healthcare costs California more than $300 billion per year, about $7500 per person, and about 30% of the state budget goes to healthcare. Chronic disease is responsible for 90% of these costs. The cost of healthcare is rapidly rising and continues to eat more and more of our state budget and family income, crowding out other needs and priorities more every year.

This is why healthcare is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy. By investing in better treatments and cures, we have the opportunity to lessen or eliminate the suffering of millions of Californians, while fighting back against the huge economic toll on our personal and state budgets.

If Prop 14 funded research and therapies can reduce the cost of care by just 1-2% in a few disease areas, it will pay for itself twice over. An in depth analysis from a group that specializes in healthcare and economics found that just 8 California funded therapies (6 in later stages of development, and 2 already approved and saving lives), could save California $46 billion over the bond payment period, or even (much) more.

California funding has led to over 90 clinical trials for diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and many more. If Prop 14 does not pass, most of these treatment and cure development programs would be in danger of being suspended or abandoned, and much fewer new therapies will begin development.

With so much on the line for California’s patients, families, budget, and economy, California simply can’t afford a no vote on Prop 14.

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