Here is an exerpt from the transcript of the debate May 4, 2011, regarding changes in the internal governance policy

at the California stem cell agency. CIRM President Alan Trounson left the room prior to discussion of the proposal, which originated with him at the board's request. This excerpt involves a discussion of the new position of chief financial officer and whether Trounson and CIRM Chairman Robert Klein had agreed to a job description. Sherry Lansing(chair of the Governance Subcommittee): (The) operational thing is should you within the next six weeks come to a conclusion as to how you wish to post it (the job description for the new CFO position) and should the new chairperson come in and say, well, I have this skill set, so I would rather do x, y, and z can repost it. We're just trying not to stop everything. Elona Baum(CIRM general counsel): I think that it's incumbent upon me to let the board know that there is an existing job description at the moment, and there is a lack of agreement between the president and the chair as to whether or not what is in the current version of that job description accurately reflects what is being discussed within the accepted position of the CFO. Chairman Robert Klein: So I wish the president were Jeff Sheehy(CIRM director): Could I request we go into closed session. Lansing: Okay. Sheehy: Because this is a personnel issue. I'm surprised that (the CIRM general) counsel is raising a personnel issue. Baum: Any personnel issue should be in closed session. I didn't consider this Sheehy: This comes out of the evaluation process, so this is a personnel issue. Baum: I don't think we should say anything more if we're talking about personnel issues. Sheehy: If you're not honoring the agreements of the president. Baum: Look, I think this went beyond what was agreed to. That's all I'm trying to say for your information. Klein: Wait a minute. Sheehy: This is between the board and the president.

Lansing: I would like to stop this discussion at the moment, if possible, and just deal with what we're doing. The president was in the governance committee. I'm sorry he's not here now. And the president has willingly fulfilled the wishes of the joint decision of the Evaluation Subcommittee and the board with his full participation. All we're asking for is approval of a document that has been before us before, and all we are making clear is that nobody will be hired during this six weeks until we have a chair. This is really all we're talking about. Claire Pomeroy(CIRM director): I'd like to clarify my very minority no vote in the Governance Subcommittee. And I do have significant concerns about hiring additional people at a time when I think there's going to be a major transition in relationships and divisions of duties and stuff to be determined when the new chair comes. so what I asked, for those who weren't there, what I asked in the Governance Subcommittee was that we incorporate into the approval that no hires would be made. That was voted down as being incorporated into the approval, and we were asked to just accept the assurance without putting it into the motion. And I just wasn't personally comfortable with that. I think it would be irresponsible to do that. And so since I'm voting on the motion, I wanted it in the motion. I think the timing of this is difficult, and I'm not sure that I think it's a good idea to enter into a whole process at a time of major transition.