The Kansas House has passed a bill requiring the University of Kansas Medical Center to establish a stem cell research center. The Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center would work only with adult stem cells. Supporters say the center could lead to new medical treatments.
Representative Dave Crum is a Republican from Augusta.
“It is very much within the authority of the legislature to create policy that we think is in the best interest of the state."
But Republican Barbara Bollier from Mission Hills calls it an unfunded mandate because lawmakers aren't providing money for the center. She says lawmakers haven't legislated what university researchers should do in the past and that KU Med is already researching these types of treatments.
“The doctors and the researchers who are involved know what they are doing, and they don’t need us to set up a specific stem cell therapy treatment center,” says Bollier.
The House passed the bill during a vote last Tuesday night.
