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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 428
February Session, 2026
AN ACT CONCERNING RESEARCH FUNDING AT INSTITUTIONS OF
HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE STATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) ( Effective July 1, 2026 ) (a) There is established an 1
Academic Research Funding Commission, which shall be part of the 2
Executive Department. 3
(b) The commission shall consist of the following members: 4
(1) One appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 5
who is a member of the faculty at The University of Connecticut; 6
(2) One appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, who is 7
a member of the faculty at a state university within the Connecticut State 8
University System; 9
(3) One appointed by the majority leader of the House of 10
Representatives, who is a member of the faculty at a nonprofit, 11
independent institution of higher education in the state; 12
(4) One appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, who is a 13
member of the faculty at The University of Connecticut; 14
(5) One appointed by the minority leader of the House of 15
Representatives, who is a member of the faculty at a nonprofit, 16
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independent institution of higher education in the state; 17
(6) One appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, who is a 18
member of the faculty at a state university within the Connecticut State 19
University System; 20
(7) Two persons appointed by the Governor, who represent large 21
industry sectors in the state and have experience with research and 22
technology development; 23
(8) One appointed by the House chairperson of the joint standing 24
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 25
relating to higher education and employment advancement, who is a 26
member of the faculty at The University of Connecticut School of 27
Medicine or School of Dental Medicine; 28
(9) One person appointed by the Senate chairperson of the joint 29
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 30
matters relating to higher education and employment advancement, 31
who is a member of the faculty at The University of Connecticut School 32
of Medicine or School of Dental Medicine; 33
(10) One person appointed by the House ranking member of the joint 34
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 35
matters relating to higher education and employment advancement, 36
who is a member of the faculty at a nonprofit, independent institution 37
of higher education in the state; 38
(11) One person appointed by the Senate ranking member of the joint 39
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 40
matters relating to higher education and employment advancement, 41
who is a member of the faculty at a nonprofit, independent institution 42
of higher education in the state; 43
(12) The vice president of research at The University of Connecticut; 44
and 45
(13) The vice president of research at Yale University. 46
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(c) All initial appointments to the commission pursuant to 47
subdivisions (1) to (11), inclusive, of subsection (b) of this section shall 48
be made not later than September 1, 2026, and shall terminate on June 49
30, 2028, and June 30, 2029, in accordance with the provisions of 50
subsection (f) of this section, regardless of when the initial appointment 51
was made. Any member of the commission may serve more than one 52
term. 53
(d) The vice presidents of research at The University of Connecticut 54
and Yale University shall serve as the cochairpersons of the commission. 55
Such cochairpersons shall schedule the first meeting of the commission, 56
which shall be held not later than September 1, 2026. 57
(e) The administrative staff of the Office of Higher Education shall 58
serve as administrative staff of the commission. 59
(f) Appointed members of the commission shall serve for two -year 60
terms which shall commence on the date of appointment, except as 61
provided in subsection (c) of this section, and members first appointed 62
shall have the following terms: (1) Members appointed by the Governor, 63
the majority leader of the House of Representatives, the minority leader 64
of the House of Representatives and the chairpersons of the joint 65
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 66
matters relating to higher education and employment advancement 67
shall initially serve a term of two years, and (2) members appointed by 68
the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore 69
of the Senate, the majority leader of the Senate, the minority leader of 70
the Senate and the ranking members of the joint standing committee of 71
the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to higher 72
education and employment advancement shall initially serve a term of 73
three years. Members shall continue to serve until their successors are 74
appointed. 75
(g) Any vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority. Any 76
vacancy occurring other than by expiration of term shall be filled for the 77
balance of the unexpired term. 78
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(h) A majority of the commission shall constitute a quorum for the 79
transaction of any business. 80
(i) The members of the commission shall serve without 81
compensation, but shall, within the limits of available funds, be 82
reimbursed for expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of 83
their duties. 84
(j) The commission shall have the following powers and duties: (1) 85
Award research funding grants to research faculty at institutions of 86
higher education in the state, prioritizing grants to fund research 87
conducted on topics and subjects that have been reduced, restricted or 88
eliminated as a result of changes in the funding of grants from the 89
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and other 90
federal agencies ; (2) obtain from any executive department, board, 91
commission or other agency of the state such assistance and data as 92
necessary and available to carry out the purposes of this section; (3) 93
accept any gift, donation or bequest for the purpose of performing the 94
duties described in this section; (4) establish bylaws to govern its 95
procedures; and (5) perform such other acts as may be necessary and 96
appropriate to carry out the duties described in this section. 97
(k) The commission shall meet as often as deemed necessary by the 98
cochairpersons of the commission. Any appointed member who fails to 99
attend three consecutive meetings or who fails to attend fifty per cent of 100
all meetings held during any calendar year shall be deemed to have 101
resigned from the commission. 102
(l) Not later than January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, the 103
commission shall submit a report, in accordance with the provisions of 104
section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the Governor, the Commissioner 105
of Higher Education and the joint standing committee of the General 106
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to higher education 107
and employment advancement on the research funding grants awarded 108
by the commission during the prior fiscal year, which shall include, but 109
need not be limited to, (1) the number and amount of research funding 110
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grants awarded, (2) the types of research for which the commission 111
awarded research funding grants, (3) the number of applications the 112
commission received from research faculty for research funding grants, 113
and (4) recommendations for policy changes and amendments to the 114
general statutes necessary to expand the impact of research funding 115
grants on the scope of academic research conducted in the state and on 116
the state economy. 117
Sec. 2. ( Effective July 1, 2026 ) The sum of fifty million dollars is 118
appropriated to the Academic Research Funding Commission from the 119
General Fund, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027, to distribute 120
research fund grants to research faculty at institutions of higher 121
education in the state pursuant to section 1 of this act. 122
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2026 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2026 New section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(f), "and members appointed by" was deleted and references
to appointments made by the chairpersons and ranking members of the
joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of
matters relating to higher education and employment advancement
were moved to earlier in the sentence, for consistency.
HED Joint Favorable Subst.-LCO C/R APP