New York State legislators have approved a budget plan that includes $100-million for stem-cell research in the fiscal year that begins today, according to the Times Union, a newspaper in Albany. The deal calls for an additional $500-million over the next five years.

The plan would make New York second only to California in the amount of state money devoted to stem-cell research. California voters in 2004 approved $3-billion for such research. Four other states have provided grant money to augment research on human embryonic stem cells, in response to President Bush’s policy limiting the use of federal funds for such studies. The New York effort comes just days after the director of the National Institutes of Health told Congress that President Bush’s restrictions should be relaxed. —Scott Smallwood