HARRISBURG -- For more than a year, Gov. Ed Rendell has been urging recalcitrant legislators to approve the Jonas Salk Legacy Fund, a pool of at least $500 million that would be named after the famous Pittsburgh polio fighter and used to build new medical and biotech research labs at Pennsylvania universities.

Mr. Rendell wants to earmark $35 million annually from the state's $400 million annual share of tobacco settlement money to float the $500 million biotech bond issue, which would be paid off over 20 years. He's optimistic that the state's investment would attract a like amount of matching funds from federal or private sources, to take the total to $1 billion.

Mr. Rendell yesterday brought in two academic heavy hitters, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and Penn State University President Graham Spanier, to aid in getting the Legislature to approve the measure. They appeared here with administration officials to say the proposed Salk fund is urgently needed to help Pennsylvania compete in attracting the best medical and biotech researchers and to find cures for cancer and other diseases.

"The passage of the Salk fund will create more than 13,000 high-paying jobs and will further secure our position as a world leader in the bioscience and life science fields," which include pharmaceuticals and medical devices, said Dennis Yablonsky, secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development.

He also said that a $1 billion investment in "bricks and mortar" for modern, state-of-the-art research and laboratory facilities would attract prominent medical researchers from around the nation and boost Pennsylvania in its current competition against New York, Texas, California and other states.

And it won't cost one dime in state tax money, said state Budget Secretary Michael Masch. The $35 million a year needed for bond repayments will come from Pennsylvania's share of the tobacco settlement, a deal reached in 2001 between cigarette makers and states to compensate for health problems related to cigarettes.

But some legislators, especially Republicans, don't like the idea of additional borrowing by the state, which is what the proposed bond issue would be. Critics say Mr. Rendell already has borrowed too much money, which will have to be repaid by the next generation.

Other critics don't like the idea of changing how tobacco settlement funds are used. Universities now get $70 million a year in those funds for various types of research. Half of that money would be diverted to the new bond fund.

"Universities need a steady and predictable stream of research dollars," without having half of the $70 million siphoned off for a new bond issue, said House Republican leader Sam Smith of Punxsutawney.

Some Republican legislators have voted for previous Rendell initiatives, such as legalizing casinos and raising the personal income tax rate. But opposition from many has stalled action on the proposed $500 million bond fund for almost 18 months.

Looking at Penn State's growth in medical research in recent years, "the greatest leaps forward can be tied to times when we constructed a new life science building and when we hired a significant number of new faculty," Mr. Spanier said. "If we build it, they will come."

He'd like to get some of the Salk money for new medical buildings at University Park and at the Penn State medical center in Hershey.

While Pitt already has built a biotech tower on Fifth Avenue in Oakland, Mr. Masch said Pitt could use some of the money from the proposed fund to "fit it out" with the best equipment.

In a visit to the Capitol newsroom yesterday, Mr. Smith said he wondered if the pro-Salk fund comments from the two university presidents came merely in response to pressure from the governor.

This statement upset Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo, who said, "I have more confidence in the character of our university presidents than Rep. Smith seems to. There was no need to pressure them to support a program that so obviously benefits them."

Rendell aides said they hope the Legislature will approve the fund before recessing for the summer June 30.