Far from the battlefields of California and Missouri, combatants in the fight over embryonic stem-cell research in Texas stand in a kind of uneasy cease fire.

The bills filed in the Legislature so far suggest lawmakers have little intention of dragging Texas to the center of the ethical and political tumult over state governments' roles in research using human stem cells. The current climate is one of varying degrees of tolerance for the legality of embryonic stem-cell research and little sympathy for supporting that research with state tax dollars.

A terse bill filed by Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, reflects this climate, saying simply that the state should be prohibited from funding biomedical research if federal law makes the same prohibition.

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, has once again submitted a bill calling for an amendment to the State Constitution creating and funding a Texas Institute For Regenerative Medicine. Thompson's bill is nearly identical to one she filed in 2005 that never got out of committee. Hers was one of 14 bills relating to stem-cell research that stalled in committee in the last session, including a bill by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, that would have made the research illegal.

"I don't think Texas is going to make stem-cell research illegal," said Judy Haley, president of the Texans for Advancement of Medical Research, which supports government funding for stem-cell research. "But is Texas ready to put state money into it? I don't think we're quite ready."

Embryonic stem-cell research is legal in every state except South Dakota.

Opponents of stem-cell research have the same objections that opponents of abortion have — that there is no justification for destroying human life.

Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, says the moral line on the issue is being drawn in the wrong place by a lack of scientific understanding. Woolley is preparing a bill that would insure that the research remains legal and establishes a state commission to oversee such moral and scientific questions.

After studying the science, Woolley said she came to support using embryos created by couples trying to have children. Leftover embryos in fertility experiments are disposed of. Woolley's bill, she said, would explicitly ban cloning.

Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, said he has traveled the same scientific path as Woolley and he intends to sign on in support of her bill. Cook voted against all stem-cell research in a previous session, but changed his mind as he learned of the promise of the research in finding cures for cancer and for diseases such as juvenile diabetes. Cook has even changed his mind on funding by the state, although he acknowledges that it is an unpopular position.

"You have to be willing to study the science," he said. "The more and more I learned the more I came to the point where I didn't want to look some young person with juvenile diabetes in the eye and say no, you can't have a normal life."

Cook also has concerns that a hostile research environment will take a toll on the medical research network in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and College Station, one of the most robust and well-funded in the nation.

With every breakthrough, biomedical research will become a vital field. In 2003, biomedical researchers spent $94.3 billion, compared with $37.1 billion a decade earlier, according to statistics compiled by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Less than a third of that $94.3 billion came from federal sources, according to the study.

California has taken the lead in state funding after its residents approved Proposition 71 in 2004 that mandated $3 billion over 10 years. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has asked for $1 billion for stem cell research. Other states are considering dedicating state money for the research.

This is hardly a tidal wave. Pro life groups sued the state of California over Proposition 71 and so far none of the research funding has been spent. The Legislature in Missouri has battled savagely over a stem-cell research center for the state.

The Texas Legislature is not likely to come close to such a pitched battle over stem-cell research, said Kathy Miller, director of the Texas Freedom Network, an organization that supports stem-cell research and tracks related bills in the legislature.