SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 986
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATORS KENNEY, WIGGINS, DePASCO, BLAND, JOHNSON AND BENTLEY.
Read 1st time February 8, 2000, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
4398S.01I
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;
(5) "Spinal cord injury", any condition related to the spinal cord which causes partial or complete paralysis.
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 spinal cord injury. For this purpose, the board of curators shall request annually an appropriation of not less than two hundred thousand dollars adjusted for inflation. 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) Subject to the provisions of subsection 3 of section 172.792, preference shall be given to investigators new to the field of spinal cord injuries and to those experienced in the field but departing in a research direction different from their previous work. Lesser preference shall be given to proposals to sustain meritorious research in progress;
(5) 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
(6) 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 addressing spinal cord injuries and in caring for patients with these injuries;
(2) Two nonphysicians engaged in research addressing spinal cord injuries;
(3) One nonphysician professional active in providing service or care to patients with these disorders;
(4) Two nonresearchers active in a spinal cord injury association or organization;
(5) One representative of the board of curators;
(6) One member of the general assembly.
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.