BURLINGAME, Calif. – California’s stem cell agency on Friday doled out nearly $45 million in research grants to about 20 state universities and nonprofit research laboratories, far exceeding the federal government’s spending on the controversial work.

In issuing the first significant research grants in its two-year history, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine became the nation’s biggest financial backer of human embryonic stem cell research.

“Today, we are making history,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made a brief appearance at the agency’s oversight board meeting.

Stanford University researchers were the biggest winners when they landed 12 grants worth a combined $8 million, including the first publicly financed human embryo cloning project.

The Republican governor’s support of the research puts him at odds with the Bush administration, which has limited federal funding to about $25 million annually.

California voters in 2004 passed Proposition 71 to create the institute and give it authority to borrow and spend $3 billion for the research.

Two lawsuits challenging the state agency’s constitutionality have prevented it from borrowing the funds from Wall Street bond markets.

The first research grants came from a $150 million loan from the state and another $31 million in loans from philanthropic organizations.