Gov. Christine Gregoire, in her first major initiative to boost Washington’s economy, is pushing to create a $350 million Life Sciences Discovery Fund to bankroll biomedical research in the state. Gregoire, who made the idea a key part of her campaign’s job-creation strategy, is hoping to build momentum for the plan, beginning with a news conference in Olympia tomorrow. By attracting matching private money and federal grants, backers say the total financing resulting from the fund could reach $1 billion. Though Gregoire’s proposal was criticized by Republican gubernatorial rival Dino Rossi during the campaign, it has attracted backing from key leaders in both political parties. Top Republicans in the Senate — Senate Minority Leader Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland, and Senate floor leader Luke Esser, R-Bellevue — have signed on as co-sponsors. So have House appropriations chairwoman Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. The plan calls for taking $350 million of tobacco-settlement money that will flow into the state from 2008 through 2017 and funneling it into promising research ideas at research institutions such as the University of Washington, Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.
