Sec. AAA-1. 5 MRSA §12004-G, sub-§33-D is enacted to read:
Sec. AAA-2. 5 MRSA §13070-N is enacted to read:
§13070-N. Maine Technology Institute Director
1. Appointment. The Governor shall appoint, using a full and competitive search process and after giving proper consideration to the qualifications in subsection 3, a full-time Maine Technology Institute Director, referred to in this section as the "director," subject to review by the joint standing committee or joint select committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over research and development matters and to confirmation by the Legislature, who serves at the pleasure of the Governor. The director shall report to the commissioner in the execution of the director's responsibilities.
2. Duties. The director serves as the president of the Maine Technology Institute upon confirmation by the institute's board of directors. The director shall oversee activities of the institute and has the duties and responsibilities provided in chapter 407.
3. Qualifications. The director must have demonstrated experience in the management of organizations that innovate, commercialize and deploy technology and expertise in integrating technology commercialization and deployment with economic development.
Sec. AAA-3. 5 MRSA c. 407 is enacted to read:
CHAPTER 407
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
1. Institute. "Institute" means the Maine Technology Institute.
2. Targeted technologies. "Targeted technologies" means biotechnology, aquaculture and marine technology, composite materials technology, environmental technology, advanced technologies for forestry and agriculture, information technology and precision manufacturing technology. These targeted technologies may be amended only by the Legislature.
§15302. Maine Technology Institute
1. Establishment. The Maine Technology Institute, as established in section 12004-G, subsection 33-D, is a nonprofit corporation with public and charitable purposes. The duties, activities and operations of the institute are within the provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code, Section 501(c)(3).
2. Purpose. The institute, through a public and private partnership, shall encourage, promote, stimulate and support research and development activity leading to the commercialization of new products and services in the State's technology-intensive industrial sectors to enhance the competitive position of those sectors and increase the likelihood that one or more of the sectors will support clusters of industrial activity and to create new jobs for Maine people. The institute is one element of the State's economic development strategy and will contribute to the long-term development of a statewide research, development and product deployment infrastructure.
3. Board of Directors of the Maine Technology Institute. The institute is governed and all of its powers exercised by a board of directors, referred to in this chapter as the "board," consisting of 11 voting members and 3 nonvoting members.
A. The Governor shall appoint 9 voting directors, 7 of whom must be representatives of targeted technologies. The other 2 directors must have demonstrated significant experience in finance, lending or venture capital. In making the appointments from targeted technologies, the Governor shall consider recommendations submitted by representatives of targeted technology sectors. Directors of the board appointed by the Governor are entitled to receive reimbursement at the legislative rate for necessary expenses for their attendance at authorized meetings of the board.
B. The Commissioner of Economic and Community Development or the commissioner's designee and the Chancellor of the University of Maine System or the chancellor's designee are ex officio voting directors.
C. The President of the Maine Science and Technology Foundation or the president's designee and the Director of the State Planning Office or the director's designee are ex officio nonvoting directors.
D. The Maine Technology Institute Director is a nonvoting director.
4. Terms. Directors of the board appointed by the Governor are appointed for 3-year terms. The terms of the initial appointments are staggered as follows: Three are one-year terms, 3 are 2-year terms and 3 are 3-year terms. Those directors may serve no more than 2 consecutive terms. Directors who serve on the board by virtue of their offices serve terms coincident with their terms in office.
5. Chair; vice-chair; secretary; treasurer. The board shall elect a chair, a vice-chair, a secretary and a treasurer from among its members. Each officer serves for a one-year term and is eligible for reelection.
6. President. The Maine Technology Institute Director at the Department of Economic and Community Development serves as president of the institute upon confirmation by the board. Once every 2 years, the Governor shall submit the Maine Technology Institute Director's name to the board for reappointment. Reappointment is subject to confirmation by the board. The president shall:
A. Serve as the liaison between the board and the targeted technology boards;
B. Manage the institute's programs, services and staff; and
C. Perform other duties the board considers appropriate.
7. Quorum. A majority of the voting directors constitutes a quorum.
8. Executive committee. The board may elect an executive committee of not fewer than 6 members who, in intervals between meetings of the board, may transact such business of the institute as the board may authorize from time to time.
9. Annual report. By October 15th of each year, the institute shall provide an annual report on its activities to the joint standing committee or joint select committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over research and development matters. The institute shall also submit unaudited quarterly financial reports to the joint standing committee or joint select committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over research and development matters.
10. Independent evaluation. By January 14, 2000 and by January 15th of every odd-numbered year, starting in 2001, the institute shall submit to the joint standing committee or joint select committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over research and development matters an independent evaluation of the performance of the institute. The evaluation must measure firm survival, new product development and process innovations, jobs created and other measures that the evaluator, in consultation with the institute, may establish. The evaluation must consider the institute's strategic role in stimulating economic growth in Maine's targeted technologies.
1. Fiscal agent for public investments in private research and development. The institute is the fiscal agent of the State for all funds appropriated or allocated to the institute. Fiscal duties include the disbursement of funds through grants to private companies, targeted technology incubators and nonprofit research laboratories. Other duties include the accounting, evaluation and monitoring of all activities of the institute and all programs funded in whole or in part by grants from the institute. The institute may fund necessary precursors to commercialization of products and services, including the development of new technologies and processes, the development of product concepts and the manufacture of prototypes.
2. Targeted technology boards. The institute shall work directly with and provide staffing to targeted technology sectors to stimulate and manage the research and development grant process in private companies through technology-specific boards, which are subsidiaries of the board consisting of private sector representatives, scientists and others determined appropriate by representatives of the targeted technology sectors. If the institute's board determines it necessary, the institute shall provide start-up organizational and development grants to those targeted technology sectors. Each technology board may establish goals and objectives for its sector based on state economic development goals, establish research and development priorities, help companies network with each other and advise them on funding opportunities and on the availability of other support services, prepare criteria by which to evaluate proposals, solicit and receive competitive funding proposals, arrange for peer reviews and screen proposals and select those to be forwarded to the board for final evaluation. The board may delegate, based on conditions it determines appropriate, partial or full regranting authority to those technology boards that have demonstrated capacity to execute grants that are likely to lead to commercialization of a new technology or product.
3. Measures of performance. The institute shall develop quantifiable measures of performance to which it will hold all grantees accountable, including, but not limited to, the number of new jobs created by the grant, the amount of sales generated, the number of patents produced and the amount of corporate income taxes paid, and shall require all grantees to report regularly to the institute on those measures during the grant period and for 5 years following the end of the grant period.
4. Adoption of bylaws. The institute shall adopt bylaws, through the board, consistent with this chapter for the governance of its affairs.
5. Employees. The institute shall fix, through the board, the compensation of all employees of the institute.
6. Cooperation with associated organizations and the University of Maine System. The institute, in implementing its powers and duties:
A. Shall foster strategic considerations of economic development in the allocation of resources among the targeted technology sectors and promote activities that cut across technologies and achieve competitive advantages for Maine;
B. Shall ensure that the institute's programs reflect the policies as described in the State's science and technology plan developed by the Maine Science and Technology Foundation and consult with the Maine Science and Technology Foundation in the formation of those programs;
C. Shall collaborate with the University of Maine System on the development and annual update of an outcome-based 5-year technology plan that integrates private sector commercialization in the targeted technologies with university-sponsored research and development;
D. Shall coordinate its priorities with the applied research and development efforts of the University of Maine System insofar as those efforts are in the targeted technologies and encourage, when possible and appropriate, companies and research laboratories receiving funds from the institute to establish joint ventures with the university system; and
E. Shall cooperate with the Department of Economic and Community Development, the Maine Science and Technology Foundation, the Maine Manufacturing Extension Program, the University of Maine System and others in their efforts to ensure that a complementary system of support services, including, as needed and appropriate, incubators, business assistance, technology transfer, market research, patent research and similar services, is in place and available to companies and research laboratories receiving funds from the institute.
7. Other duties. The institute shall do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the lawful purposes of the institute under this chapter.
The institute may:
1. Suit. Sue or be sued in its own name;
2. Application for and receipt of funds. Apply for and receive funds from any private source or governmental entity, whether by way of grant, donation or loan or in any other manner. The State Controller shall pay the institute's total state allotment for each fiscal year to the institute on July 1st of that year, and these funds are nonlapsing;
3. Invest funds. Invest, reinvest and use on behalf of the institute for any of its purposes funds received from any source for carrying out this chapter, including the use of funds for program and administrative costs, and expend interest earnings on those funds as appropriate to implement this chapter;
4. Real and personal property. Purchase, seek, receive, hold, lease, acquire by foreclosure, operate, manage, license, sell, convey, transfer, grant or lease real and personal property, together with those rights and privileges that may be incidental and appurtenant to the property and the use of the property, including, but not limited to, any real or personal property acquired by the institute from time to time in the satisfaction of debts or enforcement of obligations;
5. Expenditures and obligations regarding real and personal property. Make all expenditures and incur any obligations reasonably required in the exercise of sound business principles to secure possession of, preserve, maintain, insure and improve real and personal property or interests in real and personal property acquired by the institute;
6. Securities. Acquire, subscribe to, own, hold, sell, assign, transfer, mortgage or pledge the stock, shares, bonds, debentures, notes or other securities and evidences of interest in or indebtedness of any person, firm, corporation, joint stock company, partnership, association or trust and, while the owner or holder thereof, exercise all the rights, powers and privileges of ownership, including the right to vote;
7. Encumbrance of property. Mortgage, pledge or otherwise encumber any property right or thing of value acquired pursuant to the powers contained in subsection 3, 4 or 5 as security for the payment of any part of the purchase price of the property right or thing of value;
8. Equity investments; loans; contractual arrangements. In addition to disbursement of funds through grants as described in section 15303, make alone or in participation or cooperation with others direct equity investments in, loans to or any other contractual arrangement allowed by law with private companies, targeted technology incubators and nonprofit research laboratories for the same purposes for which grants may be made. For each disbursement of funds made by the institute, the institute shall require satisfactory evidence of matching funds in cash in an amount equal to the state funds invested in whatever form by the institute in eligible recipients. Matching funds may be in the form of debt or equity, but must be at risk in the business for a minimum of 5 years;
9. Royalties. Establish and execute a policy on royalties;
10. Employees; contracts and liabilities. Hire and compensate employees, make contracts for goods or services and incur liabilities with respect to the same with any entity for any of the purposes described by those contracts and authorized by this chapter;
11. Debt. Borrow money for any of the purposes authorized in this chapter, incur debt, which includes the issuance of bonds, debt, notes or other evidences of indebtedness, whether secured or unsecured, and secure the same by mortgage, pledge, deed of trust or other lien on the institute's property, rights and privileges of every kind and nature or any part of or interest in any of them;
12. Seal. Have and use a corporate seal;
13. Pension plans; insurance. Establish and carry out pension plans, profit sharing plans and other retirement, incentive or insurance plans for any of its employees; and
14. Other powers. Act or do anything necessary or useful for carrying out any of its powers, duties or purposes.
The institute may not enter into contracts, obligations or commitments of any kind on behalf of the State or any of its agencies, nor does it have the power of eminent domain or any other power not provided to business corporations generally. Bonds, notes and other evidences of indebtedness of the institute may not in any way be a debt or liability of the State or constitute a pledge of the faith and credit of the State. The institute may not expend more than 7% of funds appropriated per biennium by the State for management and related operating costs of the institute.
§15306. Liability of officers, directors and employees
All officers, directors, employees and other agents of the institute entrusted with the custody of the securities of the institute or authorized to disburse the funds of the institute must be bonded either by a blanket bond or by individual bonds with a minimum limitation of $100,000 coverage for each person covered by the bond or bonds, conditioned upon the faithful performance of their duties. The premiums for the bond or bonds must be paid out of the assets of the institute.
§15307. Prohibited interests of officers, directors and employees
An officer, director or employee of the institute or a spouse or dependent child of any of those individuals may not receive any direct personal benefit from the activities of the institute in assisting any private entity. This section does not prohibit corporations or other entities with which an officer or director is associated by reason of ownership or employment from participating in science and technology activities with the institute if ownership or employment is made known to the board and the officer or director abstains from voting on matters relating to that participation. This prohibition does not extend to corporators who are not officers or directors of the institute.
§15308. General conditions; dissolution
The institute shall operate as a nonprofit organization consistent with its composition and broad public purposes. The following conditions apply to the operation or dissolution of the institute.
1. Net earnings of institute. No part of the net earnings of the institute may benefit any member, officer, director or employee except that the institute may pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and otherwise hold, manage and dispose of its property in furtherance of the purposes of the institute.
2. Dissolution of institute. The institute and its corporate existence are terminated on December 31, 2006. On that date, all property purchased with General Fund money and unexpended General Fund appropriations must be transferred to the State before paying or making provision for the payment of all other liabilities of the institute. All other property and unexpended funds must be handled according to the provisions outlined in the bylaws of the institute.
This chapter must be construed liberally to effect the interest and purposes of the institute for an improved science and technology capacity-building effort in the State and must be broadly interpreted to effect that intent and those purposes.
Sec. AAA-4. 10 MRSA §947, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 556, §3, is amended to read:
3. Target areas. "Target areas" mean means the following economic sectors targeted technologies identified in Title 5, chapter 407 for which applied research and development is considered most likely to produce significant benefits to the people and economy of the State:.
A. Aquaculture and marine sciences and technology;
B. Biotechnology;
C. Composite materials engineering;
D. Environmental sciences and technology; and
E. Information sciences and technology.
Sec. AAA-5. 10 MRSA §948, sub-§1, ¶F, as repealed and replaced by PL 1997, c. 683, Pt. A, §4, is amended to read:
F. Providing an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature by January 1st of each regular session of the Legislature setting forth:
(1) The operations and accomplishments of the fund during the fiscal year; and
(2) The assets and liabilities of the fund at the end of its most recent fiscal year; and
(3) The annual measurable goals and objectives of the fund, as established by the board, and an assessment of the achievement of those goals and objectives. The goals and objectives must include, but may not be limited to, education, research and development; and
Sec. AAA-6. Board of Directors of the Maine Technology Institute minutes. Until December 30, 2000, the Board of Directors of the Maine Technology Institute shall submit to the joint standing or the joint select committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over research and development matters minutes of each board meeting. The minutes must be submitted within 30 days following each meeting.
Sec. AAA-7. Transition. Funding of Centers for Innovation must continue through June 30, 2001. It is the intent of the Legislature that the period between the effective date of this Part and June 30, 2001 serve as a transition and planning period until technology boards can be established.
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