WASHINGTON STATUTES AND CODES

43.374.010 - Washington global health technologies and product development competitiveness program.

Washington global health technologies and product development competitiveness program.

(1) The Washington global health technologies and product development competitiveness program is created.

     (2)(a) The program must be administered by a nonprofit organization exempt from income taxation under 26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(c)(6) of the federal internal revenue code whose board of directors is appointed by the governor. The governor must make the appointments after consultation with a statewide alliance of global health research, nonprofit, and private entities. The board consists of the following members:

     (i) Three members representing private companies engaged in the provision of global health products or services;

     (ii) Three members representing nonprofit organizations supporting global health research or providing global health products or services;

     (iii) Three members representing public research institutions engaged in global health research and education; and

     (iv) One member who is a former elected official.

     (b) The governor must appoint the chair of the board from among the members. The governor must appoint the members to staggered terms and each appointment may not last more than three years, but an appointee may serve more than one term.

     (3) The board must contract with the department of commerce for management services to assist the board in implementing the program.

     (4) The board must solicit and receive gifts, grants, bequests, royalty payments, licensing income, and other funds from businesses, foundations, and the federal government to promote the development and delivery of global health technologies and products. All federal funds received must be deposited in the Washington global health technologies and product development account created in RCW 43.374.020. All remaining nonstate funds received must be deposited in an account that the board creates and administers to carry out the purposes of this section. Expenditures from the account created by the board may be used only for funding activities of the program created in this section. Of the total amounts deposited into these accounts, no more than three percent of the total funds may be used for the department of commerce's management services and administrative expenses related to the program created in this section.

     (5) The board must establish eligibility criteria for global health technologies and product development grants and adopt policies and procedures to facilitate the orderly process of grant application, review, and reward.

     (6) In making grants to entities pursuant to contract for the development, production, promotion, and delivery of global health technologies and products, the board must consider the following:

     (a) The quality of the proposed research or the proposed technical assistance in product development or production process design. Any grant funds awarded for research activities must be awarded for nonbasic research which will assist in commercialization or manufacture of global health technologies;

     (b) The potential for the grant recipient to improve global health outcomes;

     (c) The potential for the grant to leverage additional funding for the development of global health technologies and products;

     (d) The potential for the grant to stimulate, or promote technical skills training for, employment in the development of global health technologies in the state;

     (e) The willingness of the grant recipient, when appropriate, to enter into royalty or licensing income agreements with the board; and

     (f) Any other factors, as the board determines.

     (7) Grant contracts must specify that award recipients must conduct their research, development, and any subsequent production activities within Washington, with the exception of activities such as clinical trials that must be carried out in developing countries, and that a failure to comply with this requirement will obligate the recipient to return the amount of the award plus interest as determined by the board.

     (8) Upon the recommendation of the Washington economic development commission, the board may provide funding for the recruitment and employment by public research institutions and global health nonprofit organizations in the state, of global health researchers with a history of commercialization of global health technologies.

     (9) Each project receiving a grant under this section must report information to the board in the format and at the intervals as the board requires to provide accountability and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The information reported must include the amount of funding received; the funding, if any, leveraged by the grant; the number and types of jobs created as a result of the grant; and any other information that the board requires. The board must use the information to prepare an annual evaluation of the program for a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature and the governor, beginning December 1, 2012.