BILL NUMBER: SB 836 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 22, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Senator Corbett
JANUARY 6, 2014
An act relating to health. to add Chapter
15 (commencing with Section 92985) to Part 57 of Division 9 of Title
3 of the Education Code, relating to brain research.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 836, as amended, Corbett. Brain research: funding
program. Cal-BRAIN program.
Existing law establishes various health research grant programs,
including the Cancer Research Program, the Breast Cancer Research
Program, and the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would provide funding for the purpose of
establishing and operating a California-based research funding
program to complement a specified national brain research program.
This bill, the California Blueprint for Research to Advance
Innovations in Neuroscience (Cal-BRAIN) Act of 2014, would provide
that the Regents of the University of California may establish the
Cal-BRAIN program to leverage California's research assets and the
federal BRAIN Initiative's funding opportunities to accelerate the
development of brain mapping techniques, including the development of
new technologies, in order to achieve certain goals. The bill would
additionally request the University of California to administer the
Cal-BRAIN program consistent with specified objectives and to provide
information about the program through an Internet Web site.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and
declares all of the following:
(a) In April 2013, President Obama unveiled the Brain Research
through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative --
a collaborative program that will map the activity of every neuron in
the human brain with a programmed total investment of more than $300
million per year over 10 years.
(b) The BRAIN Initiative is launching with approximately $110
million in funding for research in 2014, as well as additional
private sector investment from institutes and foundations based in
California.
(c) California is poised to be a world leader in this research
effort given the prominent role of scientists and industry leaders
throughout the state.
(d) Four of the six scientists who proposed the BRAIN Initiative
and six of the 15 members of the Advisory Committee to the Director
of the National Institutes of Health for the BRAIN Initiative are
from California.
(e) Some California-based corporations have indicated they are
interested in collaborating with brain research institutions on
research for the BRAIN Initiative to bring new discoveries to the
marketplace.
(f) The BRAIN Initiative has the potential to be a major driver of
new industries and jobs in biotechnology, artificial intelligence,
and information technologies, as well as a catalyst for major
breakthroughs in brain-related diseases, injuries, and illnesses,
including Alzheimer's disease, which is programmed to cost California
over $30 billion a year by 2030.
(g) The products of scientific research improve the quality of our
lives and health and provide us with high-quality jobs that employ
and demand a highly skilled workforce.
(h) Given California's assets and capacity for collaboration,
entrepreneurship, and innovation, a state investment to expand and
accelerate this research in the state and to promote the translation
of breakthroughs into the marketplace is an important investment in
the intellectual infrastructure for California's economic future.
SEC. 2. Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 92985)
is added to Part 57 of Division 9 of Title 3 of the
Education Code , to read:
CHAPTER 15. THE CALIFORNIA BLUEPRINT FOR RESEARCH TO ADVANCE
INNOVATIONS IN NEUROSCIENCE ACT OF 2014
92985. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
California Blueprint for Research to Advance Innovations in
Neuroscience (Cal-BRAIN) Act of 2014.
92986. (a) The Regents of the University of California may
establish the Cal-BRAIN program to leverage California's vast
research assets and the federal BRAIN Initiative's funding
opportunities to accelerate the development of brain mapping
techniques, including the development of new technologies, which will
create new, high-paying jobs in California while advancing patient
care and improving lives, in order to achieve the following goals:
(1) Maintain California's leadership role in neuroscience
innovation.
(2) Develop a dynamic map of the human brain that provides
researchers, physicians, and engineers with the knowledge necessary
to develop new treatments and technologies that will improve lives
and reduce the costs of providing health care.
(3) Grow California's economy through the expansion of California'
s high technology and biotechnology sectors.
(4) Train the next generation of scientists for the neuroscience
and engineering jobs of the future.
(b) The University of California is requested to utilize
California's unique collaborative research environment by
administering the Cal-BRAIN program consistent with all of the
following:
(1) Convening stakeholders from public and private research
institutions, biotechnology and high technology companies, and
venture capital firms to develop the governing structure of the
Cal-BRAIN program.
(2) Adopting a research plan that identifies milestones for
achieving the goals of the Cal-BRAIN program.
(3) Establishing competitive, merit-based opportunities for
interested public and private California research institutions to
apply for Cal-BRAIN program funding.
(4) Maintaining the flexibility to adjust the Cal-BRAIN program's
priorities and focus based upon knowledge gained from scientific
discoveries.
(5) Establishing a technology transfer program to identify and
accelerate the commercial application of both early and late-stage
discoveries and technologies from the Cal-BRAIN program into the
marketplace and to promote new and expanded technology sectors in the
state.
(6) Soliciting contributions to the Cal-BRAIN program with a goal
of achieving a nonstate funding match that meets or exceeds the
financial investment by the state.
92987. The Regents of the University of California are requested
to provide information about the Cal-BRAIN program through an
Internet Web site, including a brief description of funded projects
and activities.
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and
declares all of the following:
(1) In April 2013, the Obama Administration unveiled the Brain
Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN)
Initiative -- a collaborative project that will map the activity of
every neuron in the human brain with a projected total investment of
more than $300 million per year over 10 years.
(2) The BRAIN Initiative is launching with approximately $110
million in funding for research in 2014, as well as additional
private sector investment from institutes and foundations based in
California.
(3) California is poised to be a world leader in this research
effort given the prominent role of scientists and industry leaders
throughout the state.
(4) Four of the six scientists who proposed the BRAIN Initiative
and six of the 15 members of the Advisory Committee to the Director
of the National Institutes of Health for the BRAIN Initiative are
from California.
(5) Some California-based corporations have indicated they are
interested in collaborating with brain research institutions on
research for the BRAIN Initiative to bring new discoveries to the
marketplace.
(6) The BRAIN Initiative has the potential to be a major driver of
new industries and jobs in biotechnology, artificial intelligence,
and information technologies, as well as a catalyst for major
breakthroughs in brain-related diseases, injuries, and illnesses,
including Alzheimer's, which is projected to cost California over $30
billion a year by 2030.
(7) The products of scientific research improve the quality of our
lives and health and provide us with high-quality jobs that employ
and demand a highly skilled workforce.
(8) Achievements from investments in research have increased life
expectancy by more than 50 percent, decreased death rates from heart
disease, stroke, tuberculosis, and HIV, created the transistor, the
laser, the accelerator, and the personal computer, explored space,
invented new materials like Kevlar and Teflon, given rise to the
Internet, and led to the growth and dominance of the United States
economy.
(9) A 2013 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
study on Nondefense Discretionary Science found that the research of
United States laboratories commercialized by United States companies
led to a drop in the yearly cancer mortality rate that saves the
United States $500 billion per year in health care costs and that the
information technology sector, built largely on discoveries by
federally funded scientists, contributes nearly $1 trillion per year
on the United States gross domestic product.
(10) According to the 2011 Battelle Memorial Institute study, a
recent major research initiative, the Human Genome Project, returned
$141 to the United States economy for every dollar invested.
(11) The 2009 National Bureau of Economic Research study on the
broader economic impacts of research and development showed a $2.50
to $3 return for every dollar invested.
(12) Strategic investments by the state can also assist in the
development of technology clusters including the biotechnology
ecosystems of the San Francisco Bay area and the San Diego region. A
2009 study by Steven Casper, Interim Dean of the Keck Graduate
Institute of Applied Life Sciences, on building successful
biotechnology clusters found that research funding that promotes
academic and industry collaboration can stimulate inventor networks
that are an important factor in developing strong regional technology
clusters.
(13) Funding research is overwhelmingly supported by the public
with nearly three-quarters of Americans thinking that government
investments in basic scientific research and in engineering and
technology pay off in the long run, according to a July 2009 Pew
Research Center poll on funding scientific research.
(14) Given California's assets and capacity for collaboration,
entrepreneurship, and innovation, a state investment to expand and
accelerate this research in the state and to promote the translation
of breakthroughs into the marketplace is an important investment for
California's economic future.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that
would provide funding for the purpose of establishing and operating a
California-based research funding program to complement the national
BRAIN Initiative. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would ensure that this state research funding
program does all of the following:
(1) Includes nonstate matching funds over the life of the program.
(2) Includes a strong emphasis on fostering technology transfer of
new discoveries into the marketplace.
(3) Promotes collaboration among both public and private academia
and industry.
(4) Ensures that research efforts and priorities are
well-coordinated to maximize the benefits to taxpayers for
investments from state, federal, and private sector sources.