Title 23
Health and Safety

Chapter 99
The Rhode Island Life Science Hub Act

§ 23-99-5. Hub powers.

The hub shall have the following powers and all powers necessary to carry out and effectuate its purposes, including, without limitation, all powers necessary for the performance of the following:

(1) To have perpetual succession as a public corporate body and agency of the state and to adopt bylaws, rules, regulations, and procedures for its governance and conduct of its business;

(2) To act as the central entity and coordinating organization of life sciences initiatives on behalf of the state and to work in collaboration with governmental entities, persons, companies, state public bodies, academic institutions, healthcare systems and facilities to promote such initiatives;

(3) To engage accountants, architects, attorneys, engineers, planners, real estate experts, and other consultants as may be necessary in its judgment to carry out the purposes of this chapter;

(4) To obtain insurance coverage including, but not limited to, director and officer insurance for board directors, officers, and employees in order to indemnify said persons against the claims of others;

(5) To administer the investment fund in accordance with § 23-99-6, and such other funds and accounts as the hub may establish from time to time, for the purposes of making appropriations, allocations, investments, grants, research and other funding, or loans;

(6) To apply for and accept revenues including, but not limited to, contributions of any source of money, property, labor, or any other things of value, and to invest, disburse, appropriate, grant, loan, or allocate any funds to the purposes of this chapter including, but not limited to, the purpose of investing in any life science initiative;

(7) To create access to capital, funding, and business attraction, retention, and support programs and to enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or convenient thereto;

(8) To enter into venture agreements with persons, upon such terms and on such conditions as are consistent with the purposes of this chapter, for the advancement of financial aid to such persons for the research, development, and application of specific technologies, products, procedures, services, and techniques, to be developed and produced in this state, and to condition such agreements upon contractual assurances that the benefits of increasing or maintaining employment and tax revenues shall remain in this state and shall accrue to it;

(9) To enter into contracts and agreements, whether governmental or proprietary, to further scientific research in the state, aid in the promotion of the health of residents, foster life sciences jobs, promote overall economic growth in the field of life sciences and to carry out the purposes of this chapter, and all such contracts and agreements of the hub entered into under the authority of this chapter are authorized to have a term not to exceed twenty (20) years;

(10) To borrow money and to issue and refund bonds, notes, and any other obligations, and apply the proceeds thereof for any of its corporate purposes as provided in this chapter, which bonds, notes, or other obligations may be issued at fixed or variable rates, with a maximum maturity of thirty (30) years and which bonds, notes, and obligations of the hub, shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 18 of title 35 (“Rhode Island public corporation debt management”) to the extent that such bonds, notes, or other obligations finance “essential public facilities” or are secured by a “financing lease” or “guarantee” of the state, as such terms are defined in the Rhode Island public corporation debt management act;

(11) In connection with the issuance of bonds and notes, to enter into indentures, trust agreements, credit facilities, liquidity facilities, or other agreements providing for:

(i) A mortgage, pledge or assignment of, or security interest in, any property of the hub, including, but not limited to, hub revenues, funds, and accounts; and

(ii) Any additional covenants and provisions, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, provisions defining defaults and providing for remedies in the event thereof, that are deemed desirable or necessary by the hub for the security of the holders of the bonds and notes;

(12) To have a seal, which may be altered at pleasure and to use the seal by causing it, or a facsimile of the seal, to be impressed or affixed, or in any other manner reproduced;

(13) To sue and be sued, to prosecute and defend actions relating to its properties and affairs, and to be liable in tort in the same manner as a private person; provided, however, that the hub is not authorized to become a debtor under the United States Bankruptcy Code or receivership laws of the state;

(14) To acquire real and personal property, or any interest in real or personal property, by gift, purchase, transfer, foreclosure, lease, or otherwise including rights or easements; to hold, sell, assign, lease, encumber, mortgage, grant, or otherwise dispose of any real or personal property, or any interest therein, or mortgage any interest owned by it or under its control, custody, or in its possession; to improve, maintain, equip, and furnish such real or personal property or such interest; to release, relinquish, or forgive, any right, title, claim, lien, interest, easement, or demand however acquired, including any equity or right of redemption in property foreclosed by it; to take assignments of leases and rentals, proceed with foreclosure actions, or take any other actions in furtherance of, or necessary or convenient to the performance of its corporate powers and purposes;

(15) To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds, or the hub investment fund, or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in such investments as the state investment commission is authorized to invest pursuant to chapter 10 of title 35;

(16) To appear on its own behalf before boards, commissions, departments, or other agencies of municipal, state, or federal government;

(17) To establish and collect such rents, fees, and charges as the hub without further appropriation shall determine to be reasonable; and to receive and apply revenues from rents, fees, and charges to the purposes of the hub or allotment by the state or any political subdivision thereof;

(18) To prepare, publish, and distribute such studies, reports and bulletins and other material as the hub deems appropriate;

(19) To lease or sell any property to, or purchase any property from, a state public body. Any lease by the hub to a state public body may be for a period, upon terms and conditions, with or without an option to purchase, that the hub may determine. In connection with any such lease, sale, or purchase:

(i) The provisions of any charter, other laws, general, special, or local, ordinances or of any rule or regulation of any state public body, restricting or regulating in any manner the power of any state public body to lease (as lessee or lessor) or sell property, real, personal, or mixed, shall not apply to leases and sales made with the hub pursuant to this chapter; and

(ii) Any municipality, notwithstanding any contrary provision of any charter, other laws or ordinances, general, special, or local, or of any rule or regulations of the state or any municipality, is authorized and empowered to lease, lend, pledge, grant, or convey to the hub, at its request, upon terms and conditions that the chief executive officer of the municipality, if any, or where no chief executive officer exists, the city or town council of the municipality, may deem reasonable and fair and without the necessity for any advertisement, order of court, or other action or formality, any real property or personal property which may be necessary or convenient to the effectuation of the authorized purpose of the hub, including public roads and other real property already devoted to public use; and, subject to what has been stated, the municipality consents to the use of all lands owned by the municipality which are deemed by the hub to be necessary or convenient for its purposes;

(20) To organize and operate venture capital funds to provide capital to early-stage life science companies in the state in exchange for equity and pro rate distributions of net profits, which venture capital funds may be structured as general partnerships and/or limited partnerships with the hub as a general and/or limited partner, and limited liability companies, with the hub as a member or manger; provided that, no state funds appropriated to the hub, and no net profits received on such state funds, may be paid to any for-profit company or person investing in such venture capital funds;

(21) To contract for the acquisition of any of its properties by the federal government; and to contract with any state, federal, or municipal agencies for the performance of any services essential or convenient to its purposes under this chapter;

(22) To create, empower, or otherwise establish one or more nonprofit corporations for the purpose of receiving charitable contributions for the benefit of the hub supporting the hub’s corporate purposes and lessening the burdens of government, and whose organizational documents shall:

(i) Include a conflict of interest policy; and

(ii) Provide that, upon termination of such nonprofit corporation’s existence, all right, title, and interest in and to all such nonprofit corporation’s assets shall vest in the hub, in another nonprofit corporation, or in the state; and

(23) To take any actions necessary or convenient to the exercise of any power or the discharge of any duty provided for by this act.