Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 161

Introduced by Senator De León

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Gomez and Santiago)

(Coauthor: Senator Lara)

August 2, 2016

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 161—Relative to bioscience.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 161, as introduced, De León. Los Angeles Basin: bioscience hub.

This measure would promote the Los Angeles Basin as a bioscience hub to provide new economic opportunity for the State of California, and would declare the intent of the Legislature to develop and encourage state and local policy proposals that focus on the Los Angeles Basin bioscience industry.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The 21st Century is often referred to as the “Bio
Century” because biosciences are at the forefront of both creativity
and innovation, representing a convergence point for engineering,
information technology, nanosciences, communication, and media;
and

WHEREAS, In 2012, President Barack Obama released the
National Bioeconomy Blueprint, noting that the biological sciences,
the “bioeconomy,” is “a large and rapidly growing segment of the
world economy that provides substantial public benefit”; and

WHEREAS, California has been and will continue to be at the
forefront of developing an innovative economy. First, Silicon
Valley ushered in the computer age. Now, the Los Angeles Basin
is poised to become the epicenter of biotechnology with its
academic institutions, training centers, companies, and
communities. The Los Angeles bioscience industry has been a
consistent growth industry even during the recession and recovery
years. In bioscience industries, employment in Los Angeles County
rose from 37,759 jobs in 2001 to 42,211 in 2010, an 11.8 percent
increase; and

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD),
the second largest school district in the nation with over 1,100
schools and an enrollment of over 415,000 low-income students,
offers 81 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
programs to its elementary, middle, and high school students. The
number of kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, students in
LAUSD and other school districts in the Los Angeles Basin who
have access to STEM programs must be expanded as these students
are California’s future workforce; and

WHEREAS, Students who attend schools in Los Angeles’s
lowest socio-economic neighborhoods are being overlooked for
their potential to enter and succeed in highly technical fields,
including bioscience. California’s kindergarten and grades 1 to
12, inclusive, public school system and the state’s public and
private universities must collaborate to establish a pipeline that
provides concrete opportunities for low-income, underrepresented
students to pursue higher education in scientific fields of study;
and

WHEREAS, The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)
reveals the state will be 1.1 million bachelor degrees short by 2030.
Furthermore, PPIC states California’s best approach to closing its
skills gap will be to improve the educational attainment of its
residents. Currently, California ranks near the bottom of all states,
47th, in the share of recent high school graduates who enroll in
four-year colleges or universities; and

WHEREAS, For the majority of low-income, underrepresented
students, their access to a higher education remains their passport
to economic security. If these students earn a STEM degree and
are able to work in the bioscience industry, they can break the
cycle of income inequality. According to PPIC, workers with
engineering degrees earn a median annual wage of $96,000, which
is almost three times more than an individual who earns only a
high school diploma; and

WHEREAS, In partnership with the leading higher education
institutions in the area, state and local governments need to promote
and develop a competitive bioscience industry in Los Angeles.
First, the Los Angeles Basin is home to several leading academic
medical centers that attract nearly $1 billion in National Institutes
of Health Funding. Second, in 2010, the Los Angeles biotech
workforce was comprised of 42,000 employees with average wages
of $72,052. Third, the area’s major research universities, such as
the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of
Southern California, and the California Institute of Technology,
created 1,118 invention disclosures and 43 startups in 2010; and

WHEREAS, Local governments must work in partnership to
promote and develop the Los Angeles Basin to address the fact
that college graduates are leaving this area to pursue biotechnology
job opportunities elsewhere. Annually, universities in the Los
Angeles Basin produce over 5,000 college graduates in science,
technology, and engineering. Yet, the Los Angeles Basin ranks
14th nationwide in biotech investment because many of these
graduates leave to pursue jobs in other cities, such as San Francisco
and San Diego, and in other states where biotech infrastructure
has already been developed; and

WHEREAS, Within the Los Angeles Basin, the University of
Southern California and local governments are working to establish
a new biotech park that will create up to 3,000 new construction
jobs and nearly 4,000 permanent jobs that will be accessible to
local communities. This, and other potential plans at Harbor-UCLA
Medical Center, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, and Rancho
Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, will create new
potential economic, educational, and training opportunities; and

WHEREAS, Local governments are also in the initial stages of
developing plans to address the creation and expansion of the
biotech industry. In March 2015, the City of Los Angeles
introduced a motion to analyze the estimated fiscal and economic
impact of local biotech tax credits to encourage growth and
development. In 2012, the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors commissioned a feasibility study for advancing the
bioscience industry in the region that focused on commercializing
new technologies, keeping and attracting new bioscience talent,
collaborating with university technology transfer offices, and
marketing the region to new start-up companies and established
national and international bioscience companies; and

WHEREAS, In order for the Los Angeles Basin to emerge as a
bioscience hub, state and local governments must move beyond
the planning stages. It is critical they take concrete action to
promote and invest in this industry to improve the economic
opportunity for the Los Angeles Basin residents and businesses;
now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That promoting the Los Angeles Basin as a
bioscience hub will provide a new economic engine for the State
of California, in particular for underserved areas; and be it further

Resolved, It is the intent of the Legislature to develop and
encourage, through the enactment of legislation, state and local
public policy proposals that focus on this large, fast-growing, and
diverse industry to establish manufacturing and research activities
for the purpose of providing high-quality jobs while advancing
public health; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.