87R12137 KEL-F
By: Creighton S.B. No. 1525
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the administration of the governor's university
research initiative.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 62.161(2), Education Code, as added by
Chapter 448 (H.B. 7), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows:
(2) "Distinguished researcher" means:
(A) an individual [a] researcher who [is]:
(i) is [(A)] a Nobel laureate or the
recipient of an equivalent honor; [or]
(ii) is [(B)] a member of a national
honorific society, such as the National Academy of Sciences, the
National Academy of Engineering, or the Institute of Medicine, or
an equivalent honorific organization; or
(iii) has attained a highly prestigious
national academic recognition, as defined by office rule; or
(B) a group of researchers who have attained
recognition as described by Paragraph (A)(iii).
SECTION 2. Section 62.162(c), Education Code, as added by
Chapter 448 (H.B. 7), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows:
(c) The office in consultation with the commissioner of
higher education may adopt any rules the office considers necessary
to administer this subchapter. The coordinating board shall
recommend to the office the types of national academic recognitions
that are considered to be highly prestigious for purposes of
determining which individuals or groups qualify as a "distinguished
researcher" under Section 62.161.
SECTION 3. Section 62.168(b), Education Code, as added by
Chapter 448 (H.B. 7), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows:
(b) The fund consists of:
(1) amounts appropriated or otherwise allocated or
transferred by law to the fund; [and]
(2) gifts, grants, and other donations received for
the fund; and
(3) money deposited to the fund under Section 62.169
or under Section 490.101(b-1), Government Code, as added by
Chapters 323 (S.B. 632) and 915 (H.B. 26), Acts of the 84th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2015.
SECTION 4. Section 62.166, Education Code, as added by
Chapters 323 (S.B. 632) and 915 (H.B. 26), Acts of the 84th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is transferred to Subchapter H,
Chapter 62, Education Code, as added by Chapter 448 (H.B. 7), Acts
of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, redesignated as
Section 62.169, Education Code, and amended to read as follows:
Sec. 62.169 [62.166]. WINDING UP OF CONTRACTS AND AWARDS IN
CONNECTION WITH TEXAS EMERGING TECHNOLOGY FUND. (a) The
governor's university research initiative is the successor to the
Texas emerging technology fund. Awards from the Texas emerging
technology fund shall be wound up in accordance with this section
and Section 490.104, Government Code, as added by Chapters 323
(S.B. 632) and 915 (H.B. 26), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015, and contracts governing awards from that fund shall
be wound up in accordance with this section.
(b) If a contract governing an award from the Texas emerging
technology fund provides for the distribution of royalties,
revenue, or other financial benefits to the state, including
royalties, revenue, or other financial benefits realized from the
commercialization of intellectual or real property developed from
an award from the fund, those royalties, revenues, or other
financial benefits shall continue to be distributed in accordance
with the terms of the contract unless the award recipient and the
governor agree otherwise. Unless otherwise required by law,
royalties, revenue, or other financial benefits accruing to the
state under a contract described by this subsection, including any
money returned or repaid to the state by an award recipient, shall
be credited to the governor's university research initiative fund.
(c) If money awarded from the Texas emerging technology fund
is encumbered by a contract executed before September 1, 2015, but
has not been distributed before that date, the money shall be
distributed from the governor's university research initiative
fund in accordance with the terms of the contract, unless the award
recipient and the governor agree otherwise.
(d) Except for an obligation regarding the distribution of
royalties, revenue, or other financial benefits to the state as
provided by Subsection (b), if money awarded from the Texas
emerging technology fund under a contract executed before September
1, 2015, has been fully distributed and the entity that received the
award has fully performed all specific actions under the terms of
the contract governing the award, the entity is considered to have
fully satisfied the entity's obligations under the contract. The
entity shall file with the office a final report showing the
purposes for which the award money has been spent and, if award
money remains unspent, the purposes for which the recipient will
spend the remaining money.
SECTION 5. Section 62.167, Education Code, as added by
Chapters 323 (S.B. 632) and 915 (H.B. 26), Acts of the 84th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is transferred to Subchapter H,
Chapter 62, Education Code, as added by Chapter 448 (H.B. 7), Acts
of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, and redesignated as
Section 62.170, Education Code, to read as follows:
Sec. 62.170 [62.167]. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION
CONCERNING AWARDS FROM TEXAS EMERGING TECHNOLOGY FUND. (a) Except
as provided by Subsection (b), information collected under former
provisions of Chapter 490, Government Code, concerning the
identity, background, finance, marketing plans, trade secrets, or
other commercially or academically sensitive information of an
individual or entity that was considered for or received an award
from the Texas emerging technology fund is confidential unless the
individual or entity consents to disclosure of the information.
(b) The following information collected in connection with
the Texas emerging technology fund is public information and may be
disclosed under Chapter 552, Government Code:
(1) the name and address of an individual or entity
that received an award from that fund;
(2) the amount of funding received by an award
recipient;
(3) a brief description of the project funded under
former provisions of Chapter 490, Government Code;
(4) if applicable, a brief description of the equity
position that the governor, on behalf of the state, has taken in an
entity that received an award from that fund; and
(5) any other information with the consent of:
(A) the governor;
(B) the lieutenant governor;
(C) the speaker of the house of representatives;
and
(D) the individual or entity that received an
award from that fund, if the information relates to that individual
or entity.
SECTION 6. Section 62.168, Education Code, as added by
Chapters 323 (S.B. 632) and 915 (H.B. 26), Acts of the 84th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is transferred to Subchapter H,
Chapter 62, Education Code, as added by Chapter 448 (H.B. 7), Acts
of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, redesignated as
Section 62.171, Education Code, and amended to read as follows:
Sec. 62.171 [62.168]. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. (a) Before
the beginning of each regular session of the legislature the
governor shall submit to the lieutenant governor, the speaker of
the house of representatives, and the standing committees of each
house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over economic
development and higher education matters and post on the office of
the governor's Internet website a report on matching grants made to
eligible institutions from the fund that states:
(1) the total amount of matching funds granted by the
office;
(2) the total amount of matching funds granted to each
recipient institution;
(3) a brief description of each distinguished
researcher recruited by each recipient institution, including any
amount of external research funding that followed the distinguished
researcher to the institution;
(4) a brief description of the expenditures made from
the matching grant funds for each distinguished researcher; and
(5) when available, a brief description of each
distinguished researcher's contribution to the state's economic
competitiveness, including:
(A) any patents issued to the distinguished
researcher after accepting employment by the recipient
institution; and
(B) any external research funding, public or
private, obtained by the distinguished researcher after accepting
employment by the recipient institution.
(b) [(a-1)] The report may not include information that is
made confidential by law.
(c) [(b)] The governor may require an eligible institution
that receives a matching grant under this subchapter to submit, on a
form the governor provides, information required to complete the
report.
SECTION 7. The following provisions of Subchapter H,
Chapter 62, Education Code, as added by Chapters 323 (S.B. 632) and
915 (H.B. 26), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015,
are repealed:
(1) Section 62.161;
(2) Section 62.162;
(3) Section 62.163;
(4) Section 62.164;
(5) Section 62.165; and
(6) the heading to Subchapter H, Chapter 62.
SECTION 8. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a grant application submitted to the Texas Economic Development
and Tourism Office in the office of the governor for the state
fiscal year beginning September 1, 2021. A grant application
submitted for a preceding state fiscal year is governed by the law
in effect on the date the application was submitted, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2021.