85R6594 CLG-F By: Button H.B. No. 3245 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to the definition of distinguished researcher for purposes of the governor's university research initiative. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 62.161(1), Education Code, as added by Chapters 323 (S.B. 632) and 915 (H.B. 26), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows: (1) "Distinguished researcher" means a researcher who is: (A) a Nobel laureate or the recipient of an equivalent honor; [or] (B) a member of a national honorific society, such as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, or the National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, or an equivalent honorific organization; or (C) the principal investigator for a research project or other research for which expenditures of at least $1 million have been made for each of the preceding three years. SECTION 2. Section 62.161(2), Education Code, as added by Chapter 448 (H.B. 7), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows: (2) "Distinguished researcher" means a researcher who is: (A) a Nobel laureate or the recipient of an equivalent honor; [or] (B) a member of a national honorific society, such as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, or the National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, or an equivalent honorific organization; or (C) the principal investigator for a research project or other research for which expenditures of at least $1 million have been made for each of the preceding three years. SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to an application for receipt of a matching grant from the governor's university research initiative that is submitted on or after the effective date of this Act. An application for receipt of a matching grant from the governor's university research initiative that is submitted before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the application is submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.