General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 959
January Session, 2015		LCO No. 3959
		*03959_______CE_*
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)

AN ACT CONCERNING ELIGIBILITY FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE CONNECTICUT BIOSCIENCE INNOVATION FUND.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 32-41aa of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

For the purpose of this section and sections 32-41bb to 32-41dd, inclusive:

(1) "Administrator" means Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated, in its capacity as administrator of the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund established pursuant to section 32-41cc.

(2) "Advisory committee" means the Bioscience Innovation Advisory Committee established pursuant to section 32-41bb.

(3) "Early-stage business" means a business that has been in operation for not more than [three] seven years and is developing or testing a product or service that is (A) not yet available for commercial release, or (B) commercially available in a limited manner, including, but not limited to, market testing of prototypes and clinical trials that have not begun phase II evaluation.

(4) "Eligible recipient" means a duly accredited college or university, a nonprofit corporation or a for-profit start-up or early-stage business.

(5) "Financial assistance" means any and all forms of grants, extensions of credit, loans or loan guarantees, equity investments or other forms of financing.

(6) "Return on investment" means any and all forms of principal or interest payments, guarantee fees, returns on equity investments, royalties, options, warrants and debentures and all other forms of remuneration to the administrator in return for any financial assistance offered or provided.

(7) "Phase II Evaluation" means a phase II clinical trial conducted under the auspices of an independent peer-reviewed protocol that has been reviewed and approved by one of the National Institute of Health or the federal Food and Drug Administration.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	from passage	32-41aa

Statement of Purpose:

To redefine early-stage business to include businesses that have been in operation for up to seven years and to exclude businesses that have begun phase II clinical trials.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]