(a)(1) The Board of Trustees of the Community-Technical Colleges shall establish a permanent Endowment Fund for the Community-Technical College System to encourage donations from the private sector, with an incentive in the form of an endowment fund state grant, the net earnings on the principal of which are dedicated and made available to a regional community-technical college or the community-technical college system as a whole, for endowed professorships, scholarships and programmatic enhancements. The fund shall be administered by the board of trustees, or by a nonprofit entity entrusted for such purpose and qualified as a Section 501(c)(3) organization under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as from time to time amended, and preferably constituted and controlled independent of the state and board of trustees so as to qualify the interest on state bonds the proceeds of which have been granted for deposit in the endowment fund as excludable from taxation under such code and shall, in any event, be held in a trust fund separate and apart from all other funds and accounts of the state and the community-technical college system. There shall be deposited into the fund: (A) Endowment fund state grants; and (B) interest or other income earned on the investment of moneys in the endowment fund pending transfer of the principal of the fund for the purposes identified in this subdivision. Endowment fund eligible gifts made on behalf of a regional community-technical college or the system as a whole shall be deposited in a permanent endowment fund created for each regional community-technical college and the system as a whole in the appropriate foundation established pursuant to sections 4-37e and 4-37f. A portion of the endowment fund state grant and a portion of earnings on such grant, including capital appreciation, shall be transferred, annually, within thirty days of the receipt of the endowment fund state grant by the permanent Endowment Fund for the Community-Technical College System, to such a regional community-technical college endowment fund based on the ratio of the total amount of such gifts made to such regional community-technical college to the total amount of all such gifts made to all the regional community-technical colleges and the system as a whole, provided the provisions of section 4-37f are satisfied.

(2) (A) For each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 2000, to June 30, 2006, inclusive, as part of the state contract with donors of endowment fund eligible gifts, the Office of Higher Education, in accordance with section 10a-8b, shall deposit in the Endowment Fund for the Community-Technical College System a grant in an amount equal to half of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts received by or for the benefit of the community-technical college system as a whole and each regional community-technical college for the calendar year ending the December thirty-first preceding the commencement of such fiscal year, as certified by the chairperson of the board of trustees by February fifteenth to (i) the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, (ii) the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and the budgets of state agencies, and (iii) the executive director of the Office of Higher Education, provided such sums do not exceed the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment for the fiscal year in which the grant is made.

(B) For each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 2007, to June 30, 2014, inclusive, as part of the state contract with donors of endowment fund eligible gifts, the Office of Higher Education, in accordance with section 10a-8b, shall deposit in the Endowment Fund for the Community-Technical College System a grant in an amount equal to one-quarter of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts, except as provided in this subdivision, received by or for the benefit of the community-technical college system as a whole and each regional community-technical college for the calendar year ending the December thirty-first preceding the commencement of such fiscal year, as certified by the chairperson of the board of trustees by February fifteenth to (i) the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, (ii) the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and the budgets of state agencies, and (iii) the executive director of the Office of Higher Education, provided such sums do not exceed the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment for the fiscal year in which the grant is made. Endowment fund eligible gifts that meet the criteria set forth in this subdivision, made by donors during the period from January 1, 2005, to June 30, 2005, shall continue to be matched by the Office of Higher Education in an amount equal to one-half of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts received. Commitments by donors to make endowment fund eligible gifts for two or more years that meet the criteria set forth in this subdivision and that are made for the period prior to December 31, 2004, but ending before December 31, 2012, shall continue to be matched by the Office of Higher Education in an amount equal to one-half of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts received through the commitment.

(C) In any such fiscal year in which the total of the eligible gifts received by the community-technical colleges exceeds the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment for such fiscal year the amount in excess of such endowment fund state grant maximum commitment shall be carried forward and be eligible for a matching state grant in any succeeding fiscal year from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, inclusive, subject to the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment. Any endowment fund eligible gifts that are not included in the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts certified by the chairperson of the board of trustees pursuant to this subdivision may be carried forward and be eligible for a matching state grant in any succeeding fiscal year from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, inclusive, subject to the endowment fund state matching grant commitment for such fiscal year.

(3) The Board of Trustees of the Community-Technical Colleges shall adopt, by October 1, 1997, guidelines with respect to (A) the solicitation of endowment fund eligible gifts from private donors, and (B) governing the acceptance of gifts made by a foundation established pursuant to sections 4-37e and 4-37f, to a community-technical college or its employees for reimbursement of expenditures or payment of expenditures on behalf of a community-technical college or its employees. Private donations shall not be construed to include proceeds of municipal grants.

(b) For the purposes of this section: (1) “Endowment fund eligible gift” means a gift to or for the benefit of a regional community-technical college or the community-technical college system as a whole of cash or assets which may be reduced to cash or which has a value that is ascertainable by such regional community-technical college or the community-technical college system as a whole which the donor has specifically designated for deposit in the endowment fund or which explicitly or implicitly by the terms of the gift the regional community-technical college or community-technical college system as a whole may and does deposit or permit to be deposited in the endowment funds. (2) “Endowment fund state grant” means moneys that are transferred by the Office of Higher Education from the fund established pursuant to section 10a-8b to the endowment fund established pursuant to this section in an aggregate amount not exceeding the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment. (3) “Endowment fund state grant maximum commitment” means an amount not exceeding two million dollars for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, two and one-half million dollars for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, three million dollars for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, three and one-half million dollars for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, and five million dollars for each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 2004, to June 30, 2014, inclusive.

(c) Notwithstanding the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment levels for each fiscal year pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the total of the endowment fund state grant maximum commitments for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2000, to June 30, 2014, inclusive, shall not exceed thirty-nine million five hundred thousand dollars.

(P.A. 97-293, S. 3, 26; P.A. 98-252, S. 50, 80; P.A. 99-285, S. 7, 12; P.A. 01-141, S. 1–3, 16; 01-195, S. 76, 181; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3, S. 64; P.A. 06-135, S. 7; P.A. 11-48, S. 285; P.A. 12-156, S. 44.)

History: P.A. 97-293 effective July 1, 1997 (Revisor's note: In Subsec. (b) the word “whose” in the phrase “... or the community-technical college system as a whose of cash or assets ...” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “whole” for accuracy); P.A. 98-252 amended Subsec. (a)(2) to allow gifts not included in the amount certified by the chairperson to be carried forward and be eligible for a matching state grant in a succeeding fiscal year, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 99-285 amended Subsec. (a)(1) to add option for administration of fund by nonprofit entity, to specify that endowment funds be in the appropriate foundation established pursuant to Secs. 4-37e and 4-37f, to specify the transfer of capital appreciation, to require transfer within 30 days of receipt of endowment fund state grant and made technical changes, effective July 1, 1999; P.A. 01-141 amended Subsec. (a)(2) to extend the program to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, amended Subsec. (b)(3) to remove $4,000,000 limit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, and $4,500,000 limit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, and to apply $5,000,000 limit to each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 2004, to June 30, 2014, inclusive, and added Subsec. (c) re $39,500,000 cap, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 01-195 made a technical change in Subsec. (a)(2), effective July 11, 2001; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3 amended Subsec. (a)(2) by designating existing language re match in an amount equal to half as new Subpara. (A) and amending same to provide for match terminating with the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, and redesignating existing Subparas. (A) to (C) as clauses (i) to (iii), by adding new Subpara. (B) re match in an amount equal to one quarter and by designating existing language re eligible gifts in excess of state grant maximum commitment as new Subpara. (C), effective July 1, 2005; P.A. 06-135 amended Subsec. (a)(2)(B) by adding provisions re endowment fund eligible gifts made during the period from January 1, 2005, to June 30, 2005, effective July 1, 2006; pursuant to P.A. 11-48, “Department of Higher Education” and “Commissioner of Higher Education” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Board of Regents for Higher Education” and “president of the Board of Regents for Higher Education”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 12-156 amended Subsecs. (a) and (b) by replacing “Board of Regents for Higher Education” with “Office of Higher Education” and replacing references to president of Board of Regents for Higher Education with references to executive director of Office of Higher Education, effective June 15, 2012.

See Sec. 10a-8c re restrictions on appropriations.