Ballot Language:

The constitutional amendment requiring the creation of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and authorizing the issuance of up to $3 billion in bonds payable from the general revenues of the state for research in Texas to find the causes of and cures for cancer.

HJR-90 History

Enabling legislation is HB 14

HJR-90 Author’s Intent

A report entitled The Cost of Cancer in Texas: A Report to the Texas Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition on the Economic Impact of Cancer by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Health Care Information Council found that the total estimated direct medical costs due to cancer in 1998 were $4.9 billion, and indirect costs from lost productivity were $9.1 billion–for a total of about $14 billion attributable to cancer in Texas that year.

H.J.R. 90 proposes a constitutional amendment providing for the establishment of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds for the purpose of scientific research of all forms of human cancer.

Enabling HB-14 Author’s Intent

Currently, there is no cancer institute in Texas that provides grant money for cancer research. The Texas Cancer Council focuses on cancer prevention programs, but operates on a much smaller scale and does not grant funding for research projects.

H.B. 14 redesignates the Texas Cancer Council as the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. This bill authorizes the institute to issue general obligation bonds for grants to create and expedite innovation in the area of cancer research and prevention to enhance the potential for a medical or scientific breakthrough in the prevention of cancer and cures for cancer.

This amendment, along with the enabling legislation, creates a new entity, the C.P.R.I.T and gives it the authority to issue bonds totaling $3,000,000,000 in increments of $300,000,000 per year to fund various aspects of research seeking a cure for cancer. The total payout by the taxpayers of Texas is estimated to be $4,600,000,000. The fiscal impact on the budget for the next five years is $368,568,623 as follows:

• 2008 ($10,654,110)
• 2009 ($46,143,622)
• 2010 ($75,552,868)
• 2011 ($104,165,240)
• 2012 ($132,052,783)

Many high profile Texans are supporting this amendment.

Texas Governor Rick Perry continues his quest to defeat cancer:

Gov. Rick Perry today encouraged Texans to vote yes on Proposition 15 on November 6, during visits to cancer centers in Houston and San Antonio with John Sharp, treasurer for Texans to Cure Cancer. Proposition 15, if passed will authorize the state to issue up to $3 billion in bonds over the next 10 years towards cancer research.

“In a few short weeks, the people of Texas will have the opportunity to strike a blow in the battle against cancer,” said Perry. “I am calling on every Texan of voting age to drive a nail into the coffin of this disease by voting yes on Proposition 15.”

Champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong is on a statewide tour promoting passage of the amendment:

Cyclist-turned-political-activist Lance Armstrong is riding through the state this week on a bus called Survivor One, stopping to ask Texas voters to support Proposition 15, a $3 billion cancer research proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot.

“This is a real war and a war I think in many ways we forgot to fight,” Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner and a survivor of testicular cancer, told a crowd in City Council chambers in Granbury, southwest of Fort Worth.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram supports it:

We say: Texas is attempting to build its future on five key economic sectors: biotechnology and life sciences; aerospace and defense; energy; advanced technology and manufacturing; and communications technology. The institute would be an inspired addition to the state’s already impressive cluster of biotechnology assets and a wise investment in economic development — as well as a laudable contribution to the well-being of humanity.

Boy, that’s a lot to overcome for those against it. If we can find any. Let’s see….

Americans for Prosperity is against it:

Reasons: While Texans would agree that it is important to find a cure for cancer, heart disease kills more than cancer. And the bonds are reported to cost $1.6 billion in interest rates. While a worthy goal, the State of Texas should not be funding this project, and at a time when we have a budget surplus, should not use bonds.

The mean old Republicans in Harris County are against it:

The Harris County Republican Party’s executive committee recently voted unanimously in opposition to Proposition 15, despite the cancer initiative’s bipartisan support in Austin.

“By this stance, we in no way are implying or should it be construed that we are against solving cancer,” said Ron Brunner, precinct chairman for the Greenway Plaza area, who raised the motion.

Good luck on that, Mr. Brunner. Democrat Rep. Ellen Cohen has already started.

Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, says she finds the Harris County Republican Party’s opposition to a $3-billion bond proposal for cancer research “shocking and upsetting, especially during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”

Very well done article against it by Ronald Trowbridge, Ph.D. of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility:

As one whose wife died of cancer, I might at first blush appear to be the Grinch who stole Christmas. But it would be intellectually remiss not to reveal the shortcomings of and alternatives to Proposition 15, which is on the ballot Nov. 6.

Texans will be asked to authorize the state (that is, taxpayers) to issue $300 million a year for 10 years ($3 billion) for research on the causes and cures for cancer. Actually, the cost would be $4.6 billion, with $1.6 billion added for interest on the bonds.

It is a humane cause, but voters need more information. Here are five concerns you probably won’t hear from Proposition 15’s well-intentioned supporters:

BigJolly says: Time to get labeled again, I suppose. I’m voting against it. This is a boondoggle about to happen because most Texas constitutional amendments happen and this one is so emotional for so many.

Here’s my bottom line: why on earth would the voters of Texas want to create yet another bottomless pit agency that has no legislative oversight or control? Think about the arrogance displayed by the folks at TxDot when they were given blank checks and no accountability. It makes no sense to do it again.

There are a thousand causes just as worthy. Should we, as taxpayers, fund them all? Will the voters understand that 35% of the dollars WILL NOT GO TO CANCER RESEARCH BUT TO INTEREST PAYMENTS?! Will voters understand that the new agency has full and total control over the way the money is doled out?

Just say NO to yet another boondoggle.

Click to read comments for and against.

From the Texas Legislative Council Summary (note: 131 page pdf file):

Comments by Supporters: The state has a significant interest in finding a cure for cancer. Cancer is the number two killer of Texans, killing more than 35,000 Texans each year. Each year more than 77,000 Texans develop cancer. Cancer has a substantial economic impact on the state, costing Texans more than $4 billion each year. Grants made by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute would provide the cancer research and treatment community with up to $300 million each year for 10 years.

At a time when cancer research funding is being cut on the federal level, research institutions are in need of other sources of funding to continue the effort to fi ght and potentially cure cancer. The amendment only authorizes the issuance of $3 billion in general obligation bonds. The state is not required to ever actually issue the bonds. The state may still finance the cancer research program in other ways, including by making biennial appropriations for the program in the general appropriations bill. The amendment gives the state another option and more flexibility in financing the cancer research program. By authorizing the issuance of $3 billion in general obligation bonds for cancer research, the state is telling the world that Texas is making a 10- year commitment to cancer research and that long-term commitment is necessary to attract the top researchers to the state and make the state a world leader in cancer research.

Although the state would have to pay approximately $1.6 billion in interest to issue the $3 billion in general obligation bonds for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, that extra cost to the program would be offset by royalties, income, and other intellectual property benefits realized by the state as a result of projects developed with grants of the bond proceeds and by the economic impact resulting from new jobs created in the state and the decreased direct and indirect costs of cancer that would result from any cures, treatments, or other medical advances developed with grants of the bond proceeds.

Comments by Opponents: The state should not borrow money to finance a cancer research program while the state has a fiscal surplus and could pay for the program out of general revenue. The interest on $3 billion in general obligation bonds is approximately $1.6 billion. By borrowing $3 billion to pay for the cancer research program, the state would end up paying $4.6 billion for the cancer research program. The extra $1.6 billion would be used to pay the interest on the general obligation bonds instead of being used for cancer research. The extra $1.6 billion could be better spent by providing other benefits to the residents of the state, such as expanding the CHIP program, paying for schools, or building roads.

Finding a cure for cancer is an international issue. Coordinated national and international efforts are needed, and Texas should not provide a disproportionate share of the research funds needed for finding a cure for cancer that will benefit all mankind. Furthermore, the state should not put a higher priority on cancer research over other state issues including
public education, higher education, and other health and human service issues.

The state should not limit funding to cancer research when there are many other diseases that affect Texans, including heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.