A billionaire is pushing Prop 38.It steers $4.2 billion to one institution. His.And California taxpayers get the bill—for 20 years.

Proposition 38 appears written to direct approximately half its funding—about $4.2 billion—to a single UCLA-affiliated institution without naming that institution for voters.

California has many world-class universities, hospitals and independent research centers. No institution should be guaranteed billions of taxpayer dollars through eligibility requirements written into a ballot measure.

Public research funding should be awarded through open competition based on scientific merit—not predetermined by the measure’s sponsors.

Proposition 38 would borrow $8.4 billion, requiring an estimated $500 million to $600 million in annual debt payments for roughly two decades. Those payments would come from California’s General Fund, where they would compete with health care, education, housing, public safety and other essential services.

Proponents suggest that royalties and other returns could help offset the cost. Californians have heard similar promises before, but speculative future revenue is not a responsible basis for taking on billions of dollars in public debt. Taxpayers remain responsible for the bond payments whether the research produces profitable treatments or not.

Immunology and immunotherapy are important and promising fields. That is precisely why funding decisions should be made through rigorous peer review and open competition among California’s best scientists—not permanently fixed through a ballot initiative.

Science changes rapidly. The most promising approach today may be overtaken by a discovery in another field tomorrow. Proposition 38 would commit billions of dollars to one scientific area and concentrate half the funding in one institution for years to come. It cannot adapt as evidence, technology and public-health needs change.

California should invest in biomedical research, but it should fund the strongest proposals wherever they originate—not place billions of taxpayer dollars in one institutional and scientific basket.