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A ballot measure that would re-fund California’s stem cell agency with a $5.5 billion bond to be used for scientific research and clinical trials was passing Tuesday night but still too close to call.

Proposition 14 had 51% of the vote with most precincts partially reporting but an undetermined number of mail-in ballots to be counted. It requires a simple majority to pass.

The measure would allow the state to continue funding a 15-year investment in stem cell research that started with the passage of Proposition 71, a similar bond measure that injected $3 billion into the field. That measure passed easily in 2004 and created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

But the state agency has run out of money and will shut down without another round of bond support.

Supporters of Prop. 14 said the new measure was needed to continue research into treating or even curing conditions from Alzheimer’s disease and paralysis to HIV and diabetes. They note that the original funding helped support research that developed into a handful of new therapies, including treatments for cancer and a rare but devastating pediatric immune disorder.

Much more work remains, supporters say, and state funding is critical to keeping momentum in the stem cell field.

“Proposition 71 saved my daughter’s life and the lives of 49 other babies and it has helped patients with diseases like cancer, spinal cord injuries and diabetes,” said Alysia Padilla-Vaccaro, whose daughter Evangelina was born with an immune deficiency known as “bubble-baby disease.” Evangelina was cured of the disorder with a stem cell therapy that was partially funded by the state, and she has since become a poster child for CIRM.

“Stopping now would be devastating for the families that weren’t as fortunate as mine, the millions of families still waiting for treatments and cures,” Padilla-Vaccaro said. “I’ve seen firsthand the possible treatments and lifesaving cures that Proposition 14 could bring to the life of someone you love.”

Opponents argue that the reasons for supporting the first bond no longer exist, and that especially given major financial burdens facing the state due to the coronavirus pandemic, now is not the time to fund specialty science.

Though therapies like the one given to Evangelina are exciting, they say, the state has had very few similar successes in the past 15 years, and there are many more avenues for supporting that research now. A 2018 Chronicle analysis of the state stem cell agency found that it fell far short of meeting promises made in the Prop. 71 campaign.

“We can’t afford it,” said Jeff Sheehy, who has served on the board of the stem cell agency since its inception as a patient advocate and opposes the new measure. “Why this particular investment? It makes no sense for us to go into debt to pay for this.”

Stem cells are building blocks of the human body. They are able to transform into almost any other kind of cell, which makes them uniquely promising as therapies for diseases caused by cellular death or damage. When combined with gene therapies and genetic engineering tools, stem cell science could lead to cures in a wide variety of intractable human diseases.

Backers of Prop. 71 developed the measure in response to federal limitations on funding for embryonic stem cell research. Scientists feared that the lack of federal financial support would stop critical research in a burgeoning field that held immense promise.

But in the decade and a half since then, the federal ban has been lifted, and less controversial areas of stem cell research have opened up. Federal funding and biotech investment regularly flows into stem cell research. The stem cell industry is flourishing in California — largely due to the Prop. 71 funding — and opponents of of Prop. 14 said the stem cell industry no longer needs to be floated by the state.

“There is ample money from the federal government, from the private sector, to fund successful projects,” Sheehy said. “A lot of the barriers people had talked about have been overcome. CIRM has been part of this movement, and there’s been success. But there are not the structural barriers to this research anymore.”

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the bond amount. It’s a $5.5 billion bond.