(a) There is established a Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund, to be held, administered, invested and disbursed by the administrator pursuant to this section. The fund shall contain any moneys required or permitted by law to be deposited in the fund and any moneys received from any public or private contributions, gifts, grants, donations, bequests or devises to the fund. Pending disbursement as financial assistance to eligible recipients, moneys in or received for the fund may be deposited with and invested by any institution as may be designated by the administrator at its sole discretion and paid as the administrator shall direct. The administrator may make payments from such deposit accounts for use in accordance with the provisions of this section. Earnings attributable to such investments shall be credited to the fund and shall become part of the assets of the fund. Any balance remaining in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward in the fund for the fiscal year next succeeding.

(b) Any amount received by the administrator as repayment of loan principal or any other recovery of the original amount of financial assistance provided from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund to an eligible recipient shall be deposited and held for the use and benefit of the fund. Any income, earnings or return on investment in excess of such original amount and any repayment of interest received by the administrator shall be deemed unrestricted funds of the corporation as described in subsection (b) of section 32-41a.

(c) The Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund shall not be deemed an account within the General Fund and shall be used exclusively for the purposes provided in this section.

(d) The Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund shall be used (1) to provide financial assistance to eligible recipients as may be approved by the advisory committee pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, (2) to provide financial assistance to eligible institutions as defined in section 32-41jj and pursuant to the requirements of sections 32-41jj to 32-41mm, inclusive, (3) for the repayment of state bonds in such amounts as may be required by the State Bond Commission, and (4) to pay or reimburse the administrator for administrative costs pursuant to subsection (j) of this section. Such financial assistance shall be awarded to further the development of bioscience, biomedical engineering, health information management, medical care, medical devices, medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, personalized medicine and other related disciplines that are likely to lead to an improvement in or development of services, therapeutics, diagnostics or devices that are commercializable and designed to advance the coordination, quality or efficiency of health care and lower health care costs, and that promise, directly or indirectly, to lead to job growth in the state in these or related fields.

(e) All expenditures from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund, except for administrative costs reimbursed to the administrator pursuant to subsection (j) of this section and amounts required for the repayment of state bonds in such amounts as may be required by the State Bond Commission, shall be approved by the advisory committee. Any such approval shall be (1) specific to an individual expenditure to be made, (2) for budgeted expenditures with such variations as the advisory committee may authorize at the time of such budget approval, or (3) for a financial assistance program to be administered by staff of the administrator, subject to limits, eligibility requirements and other conditions established by the advisory committee at the time of such program approval. The advisory committee may provide financial assistance directly to eligible recipients or indirectly to eligible recipients by investment in private equity investment funds, including investment funds organized, managed and investing in businesses within or outside the state, as described in subsection (g) of this section.

(f) Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated shall provide any necessary staff, office space, office systems and administrative support for the operation of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund in accordance with this section. In acting as administrator of the fund, the administrator shall have and may exercise all of the powers of Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated set forth in section 32-39, provided expenditures from the fund shall be approved by the advisory committee pursuant to subsection (e) of this section.

(g) The advisory committee shall establish an application and approval process with guidelines and terms for financial assistance awarded from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund directly to eligible recipients. Such guidelines and terms shall include (1) a requirement that any applicant for financial assistance shall be operating in the state, or proposing to relocate operations to the state, in whole or in part, as a condition of such financial assistance, (2) limitations on the total amount of financial assistance that may be awarded in the form of loans and grants, (3) eligibility requirements for loans and grants designed to encourage and support collaborative ventures among eligible recipients, (4) peer review requirements, (5) a process for preliminary review of applications for strength and eligibility by the administrator before such applications are presented to the advisory committee for consideration, (6) return on investment objectives, and (7) such other guidelines and terms as the advisory committee determines to be necessary and appropriate in furtherance of the objectives of this section. The advisory committee shall adopt guidelines for any financial assistance provided indirectly to eligible recipients by investment into private equity investment funds, including, but not limited to, a requirement that any private equity investment fund that receives an investment from the advisory committee invest not less than the amount of such investment by the advisory committee, net of reasonable management fees and closing costs, in eligible recipients in the state.

(h) Financial assistance awarded from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund to eligible recipients shall be used for costs related to facilities, necessary furniture, fixtures and equipment, materials and supplies, peer review, proof of concept or relevance, compensation, and such other costs that the advisory committee determines to be eligible for financial assistance within the purposes of this section.

(i) Beginning January 1, 2014, the administrator shall prepare for each fiscal year a plan of operations and an operating and capital budget for the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund. Not later than ninety days prior to the start of the fiscal year, the administrator shall submit the plan and budget to the advisory committee for its review and approval.

(j) Administrative costs shall be paid or reimbursed to the administrator from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund, provided the total of such administrative costs in any fiscal year shall not exceed five per cent of the total amount of the allotted funding for such fiscal year as determined in the operating budget prepared pursuant to subsection (i) of this section. Nothing in section 32-41aa, 32-41bb or this section shall require the administrator to risk or expend the funds of Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated in connection with the administration of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund.

(k) Not later than April 15, 2014, and annually thereafter, the administrator shall provide a report of the activities of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund to the advisory committee for its review and approval. Upon its approval, the advisory committee shall provide such report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to finance, revenue and bonding, appropriations, commerce, public health and higher education. Such report shall contain available information on the status and progress of the operations and funding of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund and the types, amounts and recipients of financial assistance awarded and any returns on investment.

(P.A. 13-239, S. 72; P.A. 14-98, S. 38, 39; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5, S. 54, 55; P.A. 16-204, S. 3; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 16-3, S. 22; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 17-2, S. 450.)

History: P.A. 13-239 effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 14-98 amended Subsec. (d) to delete former Subdiv. (3) re use of fund to pay administrative costs, amended Subsec. (e) to delete reference to administrative costs, deleted former Subsec. (j) re payment of administrative costs from fund and redesignated existing Subsec. (k) as Subsec. (j); June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5 amended Subsecs. (d) and (e) by adding references to administrative costs, added new Subsec. (j) re payment or reimbursement of administrative costs from fund and redesignated existing Subsec. (j) as Subsec. (k), effective upon the effective date of section 5 of public act 15-222, i.e., June 30, 2015; P.A. 16-204 amended Subsec. (a) to replace “Repayment of principal and interest on loans issued from the fund” with “Earnings attributable to such investments” re credited to fund and add provisions re deposit and investment of moneys in or received for fund and payments made by administrator, amended Subsec. (b) by deleting provisions re return on investment received by administrator and adding provisions re amount received by administrator as repayment of loan principal or other recovery of financial assistance, amended Subsec. (e) to add provision re direct and indirect provision of financial assistance to eligible recipients and amended Subsec. (g) to add “directly” re financial assistance awarded to eligible recipients and add provisions re adoption of guidelines by advisory committee, effective July 1, 2016; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 16-3 amended Subsec. (e) to make identical changes as P.A. 16-204 and amended Subsec. (g) to add identical provision re adoption of guidelines by advisory committee as in P.A. 16-204, effective July 1, 2016; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 17-2 amended Subsec. (d) by adding new Subdiv. (2) re use of fund to provide assistance to certain institutions and redesignating existing Subdivs. (2) and (3) as Subdivs. (3) and (4), effective October 31, 2017.