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State Legislative Best Practices in Support of Bioscience Industry Development
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Facilities for Growth
The physical infrastructure needs of both basic and applied research are significant. They are also essential in creating a productive environment for the bioscience industry. Because potential applications of the technology have increased exponentially in the past ten years, the need for state-of-the art research facilities has grown as well.
State governments, in particular, have become aware of these needs and have integrated the need for physical facilities into the overall strategy for bioscience industry economic development. This has been accomplished by legislatures setting aside pools of matching physical infrastructure funds to leverage public-private partnerships in commercialization.
Texas: Cleanroom Construction Tax Exemption
PDF of Legislative Language (170 KB)
The Texas Legislature in 2003 passed HB 2425, an exemption from the state sales and use tax on "pharmaceutical biotechnology clean-room" construction and equipment. The exemption applied to all tangible personal property used in connection with manufacturing, processing, or fabrication of a pharmaceutical biotechnology product in a cleanroom environment. The exemption also includes the systems, fixtures and piping, production equipment and machinery, and all property necessary to reduce contamination or control: airflow, temperature, humidity, chemical purity, environmental conditions, etc.
University of Massachusetts Life Sciences Facilities Act
PDF of Legislative Language (502 KB)
In 2005, the Massachusetts Legislature passed SB 2264 to build three new industry-related facilities at the University of Massachusetts. The bill provides funding for the construction, equipment, and operating costs of a new nanotechnology and biomanufacturing facility to be built on the UMass-Lowell campus and for a bioprocessing facility near UMass-Dartmouth. The third facility, the Venture Development Center, to be constructed at UMass-Boston, will be a research and business center offering specialized R&D facilities for collaboration with companies and other research institutions.
Pennsylvania: Life Sciences Greenhouse Initiative
PDF of Legislative Language (88 KB)
To capitalize on their existing strengths in the biosciences in 2001, Pennsylvania House Bill 2 created the Pennsylvania Life Sciences Greenhouse Initiative to sustain early stage risk capital for the industry. The one-time investment of $100 million of Tobacco Settlement funding was allotted to Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh and is part of Pennsylvania's larger $2 billion Biosciences Enterprise Commitment to fuel research and development, venture capital and other early-stage company investment.
Arizona: Biodesign Institute
PDF of Legislative Language (46 KB)
Arizona's Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University was established in 2000 to create an entrepreneurial research culture attractive to scientists uniquely capable of working across disciplines and in close cooperation with industry. In 2003, the Arizona legislature partially funded the construction of four interconnecting buildings with 800,000 square feet of advance research space with flexibility for adaptation related to new research efforts.
Delaware: Biotechnology Institute and Technology Park
PDF of Legislative Language (342 KB)
The Delaware Technology Park was created in 1991 and is an early example of a statewide collaboration between the state's universities, government, and private sector to move early technology invention to the marketplace. In 2000, Senate Bill 242 authorized the creation of Delaware Biotechnology Institute, located on the Technology Park site, to more fully integrate biotechnology to state-of-the-art research laboratories in the areas of biology, biochemistry, engineering, and computer science.
DISCLAIMER: The examples cited in this document are only a small fraction of policies state governments have put in place to grow the bioscience industry. It is not intended to be exclusive of other policies to develop technology-based industries.
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