Bill > HB4002

This bill establishes the West Virginia Collaboratory, housed at Marshall University, to share the policy and research expertise of state higher education institutions with state and local governments and citizens. The Collaboratory will conduct research on topics like workforce development, education, and economic and natural resource management, support research programs at universities, pursue research and development opportunities, disseminate best practices, assist the Office of State Fire Marshal with Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) safety, and provide training on science policy research. Funding for the Collaboratory, which will not revert to the general fund, cannot be used for indirect overhead costs at partner universities, but state and local governments must cooperate by providing access to infrastructure, personnel, and data free of charge. The bill also creates a Collaboratory Advisory Group composed of legislators, university designees, the Chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission, and citizen experts, which will help set research priorities and protocols, identify experts, and review projects and reports; meetings and records of this advisory group are exempt from open meeting laws and public records requests, respectively. Finally, the Collaboratory is required to submit an annual report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance detailing its activities and any legislative recommendations.