HB 1055

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the space industry; providing a short
3	title; providing legislative findings; amending s.
4	331.3051, F.S.; revising duties of Space Florida to
5	include supporting the development and operation of the
6	Space Technology and Research Diversification Initiative;
7	creating s. 331.365, F.S.; establishing the
8	multiuniversity Space Technology and Research
9	Diversification Initiative within the Office of Tourism,
10	Trade, and Economic Development; providing for duties and
11	administration; providing an effective date.
12
13	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15	Section 1.  Short title.--This act may be cited as the
16	"Space Technology Research and Diversification Initiative Act."
17	Section 2.  Legislative findings.--The Legislature finds
18	and declares that the anticipated impacts of the National
19	Aeronautics and Space Administration's retirement of the Space
20	Shuttle program reveal an underlying lack of diversification in
21	Florida's space industry. Florida lags significantly behind
22	other states in high-value, space-related research and
23	technology development, resulting in an economic reliance on
24	launch-related programs. The Legislature finds that the state
25	should expand statewide involvement in space research and
26	technology development programs involving multiple universities,
27	industry, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and
28	the military.
29	Section 3.  Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (8) of
30	section 331.3051, Florida Statutes, to read:
31	331.3051  Duties of Space Florida.--Space Florida shall:
32	(8)  Carry out its responsibility for research and
33	development by:
34	(c)  Supporting the development and operation of the Space
35	Technology and Research Diversification Initiative, a
36	multiuniversity collaboration led by the Joint Institute for
37	Space Exploration Research and the Spaceport Research and
38	Technology Institute. Such support shall include, but not be
39	limited to:
40	1.  Advisory support for defining the focus and scope of
41	multiuniversity projects.
42	2.  Access to the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and facilities,
43	including, but not limited to, the Space Life Sciences
44	Laboratory for research and program management.
45	3.  Grant funding for projects that support the state's
46	objectives for space industry expansion and diversification.
47	Section 4.  Section 331.365, Florida Statutes, is created
48	to read:
49	331.365  Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic
50	Development; Space Technology and Research Diversification
51	Initiative.--
52	(1)  There is established within the Office of Tourism,
53	Trade, and Economic Development a multiuniversity Space
54	Technology and Research Diversification Initiative. The
55	initiative shall be a university-led program to develop high-
56	impact space research and applied technology programs that will
57	advance the state's interests in space industry expansion and
58	diversification. The initiative research shall be performed by a
59	consortium of universities with a main campus located in
60	Brevard, Volusia, or Orange County and shall include, but not be
61	limited to, the following focus areas:
62	(a)  Research into spaceflight biomedical countermeasures
63	to address problems associated with sustained human spaceflight
64	and exploration and human factors research for commercial human
65	spaceflight.
66	(b)  Research, technology, policy, and engineering support
67	for new government and commercial space transportation programs
68	and microgravity research as part of the Hawking Center program.
69	(c)  Research and development for spaceport and range
70	technologies and commercialization, including Earth, Moon, and
71	Mars spaceport technologies that are priorities for the National
72	Aeronautics and Space Administration and matching support for
73	the Florida-NASA Matching Grant Program.
74	(d)  Research and development for space and upper
75	atmospheric science, including, but not limited to, a statewide
76	undergraduate-oriented, microsatellite and space
77	instrument/experiment design program, and space-based computing
78	technologies.
79	(e)  The recruitment of out-of-state, world-class space
80	researchers to Florida universities.
81	(2)  The initiative shall be centrally administered at the
82	Space Life Sciences Laboratory by the Joint Institute for Space
83	Exploration Research and the Spaceport Research and Technology
84	Institute with advisory and other support provided by Space
85	Florida. The administering partners shall make a best effort to
86	maximize matching investments from industry, the National
87	Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense,
88	and other organizations.
89	Section 5.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2008.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.