BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 836
AUTHOR: Corbett
AMENDED: April 22, 2014
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: April 30, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Brain research: Cal-BRAIN program.
SUMMARY
This bill permits the University of California to establish
the California Blueprint for Research to Advance Innovations
in Neuroscience Act of 2014 or the Cal-BRAIN program to
leverage California's research assets and the federal BRAIN
Initiative funding opportunities to accelerate the development
of brain mapping techniques.
BACKGROUND
The California Constitution establishes the University of
California (UC), a public trust to be administered by the
Regents of the UC and grants the Regents full powers of
organization and government, subject only to such legislative
control as may be necessary to insure security of its funds,
compliance with the terms of its endowments, statutory
requirements around competitive bidding and contracts, sales
of property and the purchase of materials, goods and services.
(Article IX, Section (9) (a) of the California Constitution)
Current law further provides that statute related to UC (and
most other aspects of the governance and operation of UC) are
applicable only to the extent that the Regents of UC make such
provisions applicable. (Education Code � 67400)
In 2013, the Obama administration unveiled the Brain Research
through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN)
Initiative, which is a collaborative project that will map the
activity of the human brain with a proposed investment of up
to $3 billion over ten years. For federal fiscal year 2014,
approximately $100 million is being identified for allocation
toward this endeavor with the National Institutes of Health
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(NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) working in close
collaboration.
ANALYSIS
This bill permits the University of California to establish
the California Blueprint for Research to Advance Innovations
in Neuroscience Act of 2014 or the Cal-BRAIN program to
leverage California's research assets and the federal BRAIN
Initiative funding opportunities to accelerate the development
of brain mapping techniques. More specifically, this bill:
1) Allows the University of California to establish the
Cal-BRAIN program to leverage California's research
assets and the federal BRAIN Initiative funding
opportunities to accelerate the development of brain
mapping techniques.
2) Identifies the following goals for the Cal-BRAIN program:
a) Maintain California's leadership role in
neuroscience innovation.
b) 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 costs of providing health care.
c) Grow California's economy through the
expansion of California's high technology and
biotechnology sectors.
d) Train the next generation of scientists for
the neuroscience and engineering jobs of the future.
1) Requests the UC to utilize California's unique
collaborative research environment by administering the
Cal-BRAIN program consistent with all of the following:
a) 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.
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b) Adopting research plan that identifies
milestones for achieving the goals of the Cal-BRAIN
program.
c) Establishing competitive, merit-based
opportunities for interested public and private
California research institutions to apply for
Cal-BRAIN program funding.
d) Maintaining the flexibility to adjust the
Cal-BRAIN program's priorities and focus based upon
knowledge gained from scientific discoveries.
e) 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.
f) 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.
1) Requests the UC to provide information about the
Cal-BRAIN program through an Internet Web site, including
a brief description of funded projects and activities.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office, the
Cal-BRAIN program, combined with federal BRAIN Initiative
funding, will help California harness the economic
potential of brain mapping techniques and technologies to
create jobs and industries of the future while improving
lives. Cutting edge brain mapping research can reveal the
causes and lead to treatments for brain injuries and
disorders, such as Alzheimer's, autism, and mental
illness. It can also lead to advancements in artificial
intelligence, robotics, and information technologies,
such as computers and cellphones.
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2) This measure envisions a multidisciplinary and funding
approach . The measure would seem to encourage a
coordinated multidisciplinary approach by utilizing
research endeavors in medicine, neuroscience, and
engineering aimed at developing technologies that will
make it possible to know more about how the brain works
and how to treat its malfunctions. In addition, the bill
envisions the solicitation of contributions with the goal
of achieving a nonstate funding match that meets or
exceeds the financial investment by the state. However,
the bill is silent about the provision of state financial
resources toward its implementation. Therefore, staff
recommends amendments that (1) clarifying on page 3, line
13, that the Regents of the UC are "requested" to
establish Cal-BRAIN; and (2) add that this chapter shall
be implemented only to the extent that adequate funding
for its purposes, as determined by the UC, is
appropriated to the UC in the annual Budget Act or other
statute.
3) Is a bill necessary? Notwithstanding the multiple
benefits an initiative like Cal-BRAIN may offer in the
areas of medicine, engineering, computer science, and
information science it would seem that legislation is
unnecessary to "allow" the University of California to
establish a brain research initiative as described in
this measure given the UC's constitutional autonomy
previously described. The author's office notes,
however, that this measure is similar in its legislative
construction to the Institutes for Science and Innovation
developed by the UC. However, staff notes that the
Institutes were funded for a number of years in the State
Budget beginning in 2000.
SUPPORT
BayBio
Biocom
San Diego Brain Injury Foundation
University of California Student Association
4 individuals
OPPOSITION
None on file.
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