SACRAMENTO -- With just a few more months to go before California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres plans to step down as head of the party, the famous former state lawmaker is already thinking about the future.

And the future in Torres' case may well involve being one of the high ministers of an agency doing some of the most cutting-edge science out there - stem cell research.

Torres, 62, has been nominated to become the next vice chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Torres was nominated for the post which pays $180,000 to $332,000 annually, by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and state Controller John Chiang. While those constitutional officers - all Democrats -- have nominating powers, so does Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who is likely not to support Torres for the job.

"I'm very excited about the prospects joining the agency. I can't tell you how important research in this area is and will be to everyday Californians," Torres told PolitickerCA.com late Tuesday.

Torres points to his mother's breast cancer and his own fight with colon cancer as part of the reason he would be an excellent candidate to put an approachable, public face on the Institute and its sometimes controversial science. The fact that he has a 30-plus year track record as a success political leader should help, too, he concedes.

"If I am honored to be appointed, I would like to focus on reversing the past eight years of Bush Administration impediments to this important research," Torres said.

Torres has served as chairman of the state party since 1996 has announced that he will step down from the post during this April's state Democratic Party convention in Sacramento.

The institute was created after California voters approved Prop. 71 in 2004. Along with creation of the institute, voters also gave the new agency $3 billion to stimulate public and private embryonic stem cell research.

The agency's 29-member Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee is scheduled to vote on Torres and whoever the governor nominates sometime in January.

In addition to the support of Garamendi, Lockyer and Chiang, Torres also recently garnered the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles).