(a) The Legislature finds and declares that the California Council on Science and Technology was organized as a nonprofit corporation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in response to Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 162 (Resolution Chapter 148 of the Statutes of 1988). The council was uniquely established at the request of the Legislature for the specific purpose of offering expert advice to state government on public policy issues significantly related to science and technology. The establishment of the California Science and Technology Policy Fellowships as a professional development program is consistent with the Legislature’s intent in requesting the creation of the council and is expressly designed to fulfill the council’s mission of assisting state policymakers as they face increasingly complex decisions related to science and technology challenges confronting the state in the 21st century.

(b) The services of a California Science and Technology Policy Fellow provided by the California Council on Science and Technology and duly authorized by the Senate Committee on Rules, the Assembly Committee on Rules, or the Joint Committee on Rules are not compensation, a reward, or a gift to a Member of the Legislature for purposes of paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 8920.

(c) A California Science and Technology Policy Fellow provided by the California Council on Science and Technology and duly authorized by the Senate Committee on Rules, the Assembly Committee on Rules, or the Joint Committee on Rules is not an employee of either house of the Legislature for purposes of this article.

(d) For purposes of this section, a California Science and Technology Policy Fellow is “duly authorized by the Senate Committee on Rules, the Assembly Committee on Rules, or the Joint Committee on Rules” only if both of the following requirements are satisfied:

(1) The California Science and Technology Policy Fellow has been selected according to criteria, and pursuant to a process, approved by the Senate Committee on Rules, the Assembly Committee on Rules, or the Joint Committee on Rules.

(2) The California Council on Science and Technology has executed an agreement with the Senate Committee on Rules, the Assembly Committee on Rules, or the Joint Committee on Rules whereby the California Science and Technology Policy Fellow is bound to abide by standards of conduct, economic interest disclosure requisites, and other requirements specified by the Senate Committee on Rules, the Assembly Committee on Rules, or the Joint Committee on Rules.

(Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 117, Sec. 2. Effective August 6, 2009.)