What’s Inside: Meet this Month’s Policy Champion; FY 2025 Presidential Budget Released; New California Agency Aims to Cap Healthcare Costs for Patients; Primary Election Results; and more.

Meet Julianne McCall, Director of Precision Medicine

Dr. Julianne McCall is the Director of Precision Medicine in Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Planning & Research. In 2023, she spearheaded California’s response to the Biden Administration’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health call to develop a nationwide health innovation network. This entailed convening and coordinating key stakeholders including recruiting Biocom California as the industry convener and liaison to Congress. Learn more about Dr. McCall and her efforts that earned her our Policy Champion recognition here.

Federal Affairs

Federal Primary Election Results

In California, the top two vote-getters will face each other in the general elections, regardless of party affiliations. Adam Schiff (D) will face Steve Garvey (R.) to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in both Senate races (special and open). In the House, competitive primaries included: districts 12 (Simon-D v. Tran-D), 16 (Liccardo-D v. Simitian*-D), 20 (Fong-R v. Boudreaux-R), 22 (Valadao-R v. Salas-D), 29 (Rivas-D v. Bernal*-R), 30 (Friedman-D v. Balekian-R), 31 (Cisneros-D v. Martinez-R), 36 (Lieu-D v. Toomim*-R), 45 (Steel-R-Tran*-D) and 47 (Baugh-R v. Min-D). *current lead, results not final

Biocom California Supports Mergers & Acquisitions on the Hill 

On February 29, Biocom California participated in the Partnership for the U.S. Life Science Ecosystem (PULSE) Fly-In. We joined partners from across the country to meet with policymakers to advocate for the pro-innovation role of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and other collaborations in the life science industry.

FY 2025 Presidential Budget Released

On March 12, the Biden Administration released its $7.3 trillion FY2025 budget, which proposes to increase funding for NIH and FDA, expand the IRA, and invest in pandemic preparedness, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence, and the Cancer Moonshot. The proposal is not binding and Congress must first finish enacting FY24 appropriations. While six appropriations bills were signed into law on March 8, the remaining six must pass by March 22.

EPA’s NESHAP Rule Finalizes New Ethylene Oxide Emissions Policies

On March 14, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) outlining new requirements for ethylene oxide sterilizers with a tiered two to three-year compliance timeframe. Biocom California previously filed comments on the proposed rule in June 2023.

State Affairs

State Primary Election Results

Two plus weeks after the California primary election, most state legislative races for the top two positions to advance to November have been decided, and a few races will merit watching. In the 5th Senate District (San Joaquin County and portions of Stanislaus and Sacramento Counties), Jim Shoemaker (R) and former Congressman Jerry McNerney (D) are headed to a runoff. In the oft-contentious 37th Senate District (Orange County), current State Senator Josh Newman (D) will face former Assemblyman Steven Choi (R). San Diego’s 75th Assembly District is one of the few races that remains too close to call. Former San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio will go on to the November general election, but his competitor will be either Andrew Hayes (R) or Kevin Juza (D). Hayes currently leads by 544 votes.

New California Agency Aiming to Cap Healthcare Costs for Patients

California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability is charged with helping to stabilize increases in healthcare costs; it has placed a target of 3% per year. CalMatters reports “the agency’s announcement immediately drew criticism from health care industry representatives who called it ‘unrealistic’ and ‘arbitrary’.” They contend it could harm patients by reducing access to care if health providers watching their spending end up reducing services.

Regional Affairs

Greater Los Angeles

Los Angeles Primary Election Results

Los Angeles County primary election results are in and here’s where the key races stand: Districts 2, 4, and 5 Supervisorial incumbents all lead with well over 50%; LA City Council District 2’s open seat has Adrin Nazarian leading at 37.2%; City Council incumbents for Districts 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 are all leading their competitors, but District 14 is a close race with Ysabel Jurado ahead at 24.5% against incumbent Kevin De Leon with 23.4% of the votes. View results here.

Life Science Vacancy Rate Diminishes in Southern California

High demand for life science real estate in Los Angeles and Orange County has diminished vacancy rates to 3%. Submarkets with the highest demand were Thousand Oaks, El Segundo, Pasadena, Culver City and Santa Monica.

Greater Los Angeles Regional Policy Committee Meeting 3/28

Join us for our Biocom California Greater Los Angeles Regional Policy Committee meeting on March 28 in Pasadena. We will have Jenna Karic from Mayor Bass’s economic development team attending to speak on the role of the mayor’s office in attracting and retaining life science in the city. If you’d like to receive more information or to register, please contact Melanie Cohn.

Bay Area

Bay Area Primary Election Results

Bay Area primary election results are in. Here’s where the key races stand: in Alameda County, Nikki Fortunato Bas and John Bauters will face a runoff for the District 5 Board of Supervisor position; Jackie Speier won the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors seat for District 1 with a majority of the vote, while Lisa Gauthier and Antonio Lopez will advance to the November election for District 4; and in San Francisco, both Prop A (affordable housing bond) and Prop C (transfer tax exemption) passed with majority votes. See full results here.

SF Could Provide $115M for Treasure Island Housing

With 1,000 homes on the island either finished, under construction, or about to break ground, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Matt Dorsey have launched legislation to hasten financing for infrastructure to support another 1,000. The legislation would provide $115 million for the next phase of development, which includes regular and low-income homes, a behavioral health building, and more.

Contra Costa County All-Electric Building Ordinance Status

On February 27, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors suspended its enforcement of the requirement that most new buildings in the County be constructed using all-electric technology. While Section 74-4.010 will remain in the County’s building code, it will not be enforced at this time.

San Diego

San Diego Primary Election Results

San Diego primary election results are in and here’s where the key races stand: Incumbent Todd Gloria leads the mayoral race with 50.1% of votes; City Attorney candidate Heather Ferbert is ahead by over 6%; and City Council incumbents Stephen Whitburn and Sean Elo-Rivera lead their challengers. The open seat in council district 4 saw Henry Foster get 53.8% of the vote. The top two candidates in each race will face off in November regardless of whether someone had over 50% of the vote in the primary. Read more results here.

University Community Plan Update

On March 15, the City of San Diego released the second draft of the University Community Plan Update, which will provide guidance for how the life science hub will develop over the next 30 years. Biocom California has been on the plan update committee since it was formed over five years ago and will be submitting comments related to building housing that is accessible to our life science workforce. The city also released the second draft of Blueprint SD, which will help guide where homes and jobs near transit should be located throughout the city.

San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering Expo Day

Generation STEAM, a 501c3 affiliate of Biocom California, held its 16th annual San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering Expo Day earlier this month and saw thousands of hopeful future scientists for a day of free experiments and learning. More than 120 exhibitors showcased interactive displays, making science accessible to all children and families in San Diego.

Public Policy Events

Upcoming Committee Meetings and Events

Please contact us if you are interested in joining a Biocom California committee and meet the committee requirements.

Mar 26 | Virtual – Hear Directly from ARPA-H about Funding and Research Programs
Mar 26 | Bay Area – Regional Policy Committee Meeting
Mar 27 | Virtual – Regulatory Affairs Committee Meeting: FDA’s CMC Development and Readiness Pilot
Mar 28 | San Diego – Facilities Committee Meeting 
​​Mar 28 | Greater Los Angeles – Regional Policy Committee Meeting
Apr 3 | Virtual – Intellectual Property Committee Meeting: AI and Patent Law
Apr 4 | San Diego – Roundtable with ARPA-H Director and Program Managers
Apr 5 | Virtual – State Legislative Affairs Committee Meeting
​​​​​​Apr 18 | San Diego – EH&S Committee Meeting​​​

Meet the Team