FIRST REGULAR SESSION
[P E R F E C T E D]
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 41
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Senate Committee Substitute adopted February 12, 2001.
Taken up February 12, 2001. Read 3rd time and placed upon its final passage; bill passed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
0401S.04P
AN ACT
To amend chapter 172, RSMo, by adding thereto five new sections relating to the University of Missouri.
Section A. Chapter 172, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto five new sections, to be known as sections 172.790, 172.792, 172.794, 172.796 and 172.798, to read as follows:
172.790. As used in sections 172.790 to 172.798, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms shall mean:
(1) "Advisory board", a board appointed by the board of curators to advise on the administration of the program established by sections 172.790 to 172.798;
(2) "Board of curators", the board of curators of the University of Missouri;
(3) "Investigator", any person with medical, biological, or allied health or life science research credentials who seeks state funding for a research project under sections 172.790 to 172.798;
(4) "Research project", any original investigation for the advancement of scientific knowledge in the area of spinal cord injuries and congenital or acquired disease processes.
172.792. 1. The board of curators shall award funds to investigators for research projects that promote an advancement of knowledge in the area of specified disease processes or injuries. For this purpose, the board of curators may request an appropriation annually. The board of curators may also request additional funds for administrative overhead not to exceed ten percent of the annual appropriation of research funds.
2. The advisory board shall solicit and select proposals for research projects according to procedures approved by the board of curators. The selection procedures shall provide for peer review of the background and ability of each investigator, the merits of the work proposed and an evaluation of the potential for each research project to achieve productive results. The peer review shall be conducted by the advisory board in accordance with such procedures as are utilized by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Such review shall consist of professional evaluation of the proposal by experts on the topic who are not affiliated in any way with the submitting investigator. The results of this external evaluation and the related discussion by the advisory board shall not be open to the public. The final awards of the advisory board and all of its other proceedings shall be open to the public.
172.794. 1. The board of curators, with the recommendations of the advisory board, shall award funds to selected investigators in accordance with the following provisions:
(1) Individual awards shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars per year and shall expire at the end of one or two years, depending on the recommendation of the advisory board for each award;
(2) Costs for overhead of the grantee individual or institution shall not be allowed;
(3) Investigators shall be affiliated with a public or private educational, health care, voluntary health association or research institution which shall specify the institutional official responsible for administration of the award;
(4) Awards shall be used to obtain preliminary data to test hypotheses and to enable investigators to develop subsequent competitive applications for long-term funding from other sources; and
(5) The research project shall be conducted in Missouri.
2. Funds appropriated for but not awarded to research projects in any given year shall be included in the board of curators' appropriations request for research projects in the succeeding year.
172.796. 1. The advisory board shall consist of:
(1) Two physicians who are active both in research and in caring for patients;
(2) Two nonphysicians engaged in research;
(3) One nonphysician professional active in providing service or care to patients;
(4) Two nonresearchers active in an association or organization dealing with disorders, diseases and injuries;
(5) One representative of the board of curators.
2. The advisory board members shall be appointed for terms of three years, except that the terms of the original members shall be staggered among two, three and four years.
3. Members of the advisory board shall be appointed by the board of curators. Successor nominations shall be made by the advisory board itself.
4. Members of the advisory board may be dismissed by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members.
5. Members of the advisory board and its peer review committee shall be reimbursed by the board of curators for their actual expenses in providing services pursuant to sections 172.790 to 172.798.
172.798. The board of curators shall administer all provisions of sections 172.790 to 172.798 and may promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out this duty.