ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
universities; donors;
intellectual property; confidentiality
Prohibits information
regarding donors and donations to a university, and faculty and staff
information acquired for research purposes by a university from being subject
to public records laws.
State universities of
Arizona receive funding for research grant proposals from the public as well as
the private sector. The research grant
proposals include intellectual property. Examples of intellectual property are:
invention disclosures prior to patent protection, proprietary information of
private entities, and research notebooks compiled by faculty members.
Twenty-three states have adopted laws which define the material
to be enclosed in research grant proposals of the state universities as
intellectual property that cannot be released as public information until the
grant has been funded. These laws
protect the private companies and universities involved in a specific research
proposal from having intellectual property accessible to potential competitors
until the grant has been funded.
S.B. 1527 also addresses
protections for information regarding prospective donations to the state
universities of Arizona by prohibiting the disclosure of entities or
individuals donating to universities through wills and stocks, and who request
anonymity in the donation.
There is no fiscal impact to
the state general fund associated with this bill.
1. Prohibits the Board of Regents from disclosing the identity of a donor to the public, upon the donor’s request.
2. Prohibits the Board of Regents from disclosing intellectual property records produced or collected by faculty or staff acquired for purposes related to an unreleased, unpublished, or unpatented study.
3. Prohibits documents concerning a donation to a university and intellectual property records from being subject to public records laws.
4. Contains technical changes.
5. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
February 20, 2001