2015 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 32 - Commerce and Economic and Community Development
Chapter 581 - Innovation Capital Act of 1989. Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated
Section 32-41cc - Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund. Establishment. Financial assistance. Report.

(a) There is established a Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund, to be held, administered, invested and disbursed by the administrator pursuant to this section. The fund shall contain any moneys required or permitted by law to be deposited in the fund and any moneys received from any public or private contributions, gifts, grants, donations, bequests or devises to the fund. Repayment of principal and interest on loans issued from the fund shall be credited to the fund and shall become part of the assets of the fund. Any balance remaining in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward in the fund for the fiscal year next succeeding.

(b) Any return on investment received by the administrator as a result of financial assistance provided from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund to eligible recipients, or attributable to the investment of the fund by the administrator, shall be deposited and held for the use and benefit of the fund. Moneys in or received for the fund may be deposited with and invested by any institution as may be designated by the administrator at its sole discretion and paid as the administrator shall direct. The administrator may make payments from such deposit accounts for use in accordance with the provisions of this section.

(c) The Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund shall not be deemed an account within the General Fund and shall be used exclusively for the purposes provided in this section.

(d) The Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund shall be used (1) to provide financial assistance to eligible recipients as may be approved by the advisory committee pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, (2) for the repayment of state bonds in such amounts as may be required by the State Bond Commission, and (3) to pay or reimburse the administrator for administrative costs pursuant to subsection (j) of this section. Such financial assistance shall be awarded to further the development of bioscience, biomedical engineering, health information management, medical care, medical devices, medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, personalized medicine and other related disciplines that are likely to lead to an improvement in or development of services, therapeutics, diagnostics or devices that are commercializable and designed to advance the coordination, quality or efficiency of health care and lower health care costs, and that promise, directly or indirectly, to lead to job growth in the state in these or related fields.

(e) All expenditures from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund, except for administrative costs reimbursed to the administrator pursuant to subsection (j) of this section and amounts required for the repayment of state bonds in such amounts as may be required by the State Bond Commission, shall be approved by the advisory committee. Any such approval shall be (1) specific to an individual expenditure to be made, (2) for budgeted expenditures with such variations as the advisory committee may authorize at the time of such budget approval, or (3) for a financial assistance program to be administered by staff of the administrator, subject to limits, eligibility requirements and other conditions established by the advisory committee at the time of such program approval.

(f) Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated shall provide any necessary staff, office space, office systems and administrative support for the operation of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund in accordance with this section. In acting as administrator of the fund, the administrator shall have and may exercise all of the powers of Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated set forth in section 32-39, provided expenditures from the fund shall be approved by the advisory committee pursuant to subsection (e) of this section.

(g) The advisory committee shall establish an application and approval process with guidelines and terms for financial assistance awarded from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund to eligible recipients. Such guidelines and terms shall include (1) a requirement that any applicant for financial assistance shall be operating in the state, or proposing to relocate operations to the state, in whole or in part, as a condition of such financial assistance, (2) limitations on the total amount of financial assistance that may be awarded in the form of loans and grants, (3) eligibility requirements for loans and grants designed to encourage and support collaborative ventures among eligible recipients, (4) peer review requirements, (5) a process for preliminary review of applications for strength and eligibility by the administrator before such applications are presented to the advisory committee for consideration, (6) return on investment objectives, and (7) such other guidelines and terms as the advisory committee determines to be necessary and appropriate in furtherance of the objectives of this section.

(h) Financial assistance awarded from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund to eligible recipients shall be used for costs related to facilities, necessary furniture, fixtures and equipment, materials and supplies, peer review, proof of concept or relevance, compensation, and such other costs that the advisory committee determines to be eligible for financial assistance within the purposes of this section.

(i) Beginning January 1, 2014, the administrator shall prepare for each fiscal year a plan of operations and an operating and capital budget for the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund. Not later than ninety days prior to the start of the fiscal year, the administrator shall submit the plan and budget to the advisory committee for its review and approval.

(j) Administrative costs shall be paid or reimbursed to the administrator from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund, provided the total of such administrative costs in any fiscal year shall not exceed five per cent of the total amount of the allotted funding for such fiscal year as determined in the operating budget prepared pursuant to subsection (i) of this section. Nothing in section 32-41aa, 32-41bb or this section shall require the administrator to risk or expend the funds of Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated in connection with the administration of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund.

(k) Not later than April 15, 2014, and annually thereafter, the administrator shall provide a report of the activities of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund to the advisory committee for its review and approval. Upon its approval, the advisory committee shall provide such report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to finance, revenue and bonding, appropriations, commerce, public health and higher education. Such report shall contain available information on the status and progress of the operations and funding of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund and the types, amounts and recipients of financial assistance awarded and any returns on investment.

(P.A. 13-239, S. 72; P.A. 14-98, S. 38, 39; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5, S. 54, 55.)

History: P.A. 13-239 effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 14-98 amended Subsec. (d) to delete former Subdiv. (3) re use of fund to pay administrative costs, amended Subsec. (e) to delete reference to administrative costs, deleted former Subsec. (j) re payment of administrative costs from fund and redesignated existing Subsec. (k) as Subsec. (j); June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5 amended Subsecs. (d) and (e) by adding references to administrative costs, added new Subsec. (j) re payment or reimbursement of administrative costs from fund and redesignated existing Subsec. (j) as Subsec. (k), effective upon the effective date of section 5 of public act 15-222, i.e., June 30, 2015.