2000 Connecticut Legislature Focuses on Technology

The 2000 session of the Connecticut legislature proved to be an active and favorable one for the state’s technology community and Connecticut Innovations, Inc. The Connecticut Technology Council summarized the session this way, “For the first time in recent memory, the debate at the Capitol was not over whether legislation affecting tech companies would pass, but which legislation affecting tech companies would pass.”

A shift in legislature focus to broader strategic policies rather than bills that incrementally modify programs gets much of the credit, according to the Council. “The 2000 session was marked by an increased level of understanding of technology issues by the General Assembly and to their importance in the state’s cluster-based economic development strategy, ” according to the Council's summary of the session.

Bills affecting science and technology approved by the legislature include:

An Act Concerning Education Aid (Public Act 00-187) 

• Establishes within Connecticut Innovations a high technology research and development program for the purpose of promoting collaboration between businesses and colleges and universities in Connecticut. This new legislative language reflects the fact that Connecticut Innovations combined the Yankee Ingenuity Program and Critical Technologies Program into one, now called the Yankee Ingenuity Technology Competition. The legislation states that the program will be funded by Connecticut Innovations. In the past, the two programs were funded through bonding;
• Allows Connecticut Innovations to establish programs to attract and retain residents with post-secondary education in science, engineering, mathematics and other disciplines essential to the development and application of technology. Specifically the bill creates the Connecticut Innovations Technology Scholar Program, which will provide financial assistance to Connecticut college students studying the sciences. The Technology Scholar Program also provides internships in science and technology fields;
• Charges the Connecticut Employment and Training Commission to produce a long term strategic plan for information technology workforce development that addresses Connecticut’s workforce and research needs as they relate to information technology and e-commerce;
• Creates within the Department of Higher Education, a Connecticut information technology pilot program for the purpose of granting scholarships to information technology students and providing student loan reimbursement to information technology graduates newly employed at a qualified information technology or e-commerce company in Connecticut. The Department of Economic and Community Development is required to create and maintain, on its web page, a registry of qualified information technology and e-commerce companies for purposes of this pilot program; and
• Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development to assist in the development of a partnership between various organizations to implement a cooperative internship program for students majoring in information technology related fields and to assist in promotion and recruitment activities designed to increase the number of information technology workers in Connecticut.

Internet and E-commerce Initiatives 

Public Act 00-178 permits Connecticut Innovations to provide financial aid to persons developing smart buildings, incubator facilities or other information technology intensive office and laboratory space. The act grants similar new powers to the Connecticut Development Authority, creating within the Authority a High Technology Infrastructure Fund to provide financial assistance to businesses and developers to enable the development of information technology projects.

Public Act 00-170 provides a sales tax exemption for purchases of telecommunications and cable equipment used to provide high-speed data transmission or broadband Internet services and accelerated phase out of the four percent sales tax on Internet access charges.

Biomedical Research Trust Fund

Public Act 00-216 creates the Biomedical Research Trust Fund within the Department of Public Health to provide grants to eligible institutions for biomedical research in the fields of heart disease, cancer and other tobacco related diseases. Eligible institutions are either nonprofit, tax exempt academic institutions of higher education or hospitals that conduct biomedical research. Beginning with fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Biomedical Research Trust Fund will receive $4 million from the State of Connecticut Tobacco Settlement Fund. The Biomedical Research Trust Fund may also accept gifts, grants or donations from public or private sources.

For more information on technology legislation in the state, please contact the Technology Council at (860) 289-0878 or Connecticut Innovations, Inc. at (860) 563-5851. (Editor's note: our thanks to the Connecticut Technology Council and Connecticut Innovations for providing background on the bills.)