A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to the Board of Governors of the university of north carolina to assist with biomanufacturing construction financing and worker training that will increase the state's ability to compete for biomanufacturing markets and help boost future economic growth across north carolina.
Whereas, the State is in the midst of an economic downturn; and
Whereas, losses of industrial and manufacturing jobs in textile, furniture, and tobacco production as well as high-paying jobs in information technology and telecommunications have reached upward to 235,000; and
Whereas, new job creation is needed immediately, mid‑term and long‑term; and
Whereas, biomanufacturing is probably the only industrial sector available to North Carolina that is capable of producing sustained employment growth. Other manufacturing growth opportunities are either single incidents or slow growth; and 
Whereas, this is a critical time for the State's economy as it transitions from the conventional manufacturing and agriculture‑based economy of past years to a more prosperous biomanufacturing economy; and
Whereas, the pharmaceutical industry will be producing biopharmaceuticals for at least 100 new products over the next three years and probably for 150 new drugs over a five‑year period. The approximately 40 pharmaceutical products being produced today require more biomanufacturing capacity than is currently available. Thus, nearly all of the manufacturing capacity necessary to produce new products will have to be built during the next five years; and
Whereas, the required expansion of biopharmaceutical production facilities will approximately double our nation's current manufacturing capacity for these products. An estimated 50 to 100 biopharmaceutical companies will spend somewhere between $3.5 to $5.0 billion and create several hundred thousand jobs to meet new manufacturing needs. Immediate jobs will be created in architecture and engineering services, intermediate jobs will be required for construction, equipment manufacturing and production of supplies; long‑term jobs will be created in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, sales, delivery and system maintenance; and
Whereas, during this same time period, the chemical industry will be working with the pharmaceutical and the agriculture industries to produce new products ranging from industrial enzymes, chemical feedstock for synthesis, and agricultural crops to make specialty chemicals. Several world leaders in this field already have operations in North Carolina, including BASF, Bayer, and Novo Nordisk; and
Whereas, genetically engineered plants such as duck weed, tobacco, borage, and trees and genetically modified animals such as chickens, goats, pigs, milk cows, and insect larvae will be used to produce pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals. North Carolina companies like Paradigm Genetics, Syngenta, and Bayer are working on these technologies; and
Whereas, the agricultural industry will produce a new class of food supplements called "nutraceuticals".  These foods will provide consumers with special or therapeutic nutritional benefits; and
Whereas, the contract biomanufacturing industry will be huge; between $1.5 billion and $2.0 billion in facilities are already on the drawing board by companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Lonza, Diosynth, Dow Chemical, Dupont, and DSM not to mention emerging companies like Biogen, KBI, Biolex, Protein Sciences and Biopure. The majority of these companies represent recruitment opportunities for North Carolina; and
Whereas, most biomanufacturing jobs will pay $35,000 to $40,000 each; and
Whereas, North Carolina has the possibility of creating 40,000 to 50,000 such new jobs over the next ten years by expanding North Carolina companies and recruiting new companies from the many fields mentioned above; and
Whereas, a viable and competitive strategy must be developed and implemented immediately to capture a significant portion of this lucrative market and ensure future economic growth statewide; and
Whereas, the strategy is to create an educational alliance among the State's universities, communities, and biomanufacturing companies to further this economic endeavor; and 
Whereas, the physical facilities needed by this alliance are a central biomanufacturing center and six regional training centers to be located at six community college campuses to meet the workforce training and education needs of the bioprocess and biopharmaceutical industry in each of the State's seven economic development regions; and
Whereas, the establishment of such an alliance with its education and training facilities strategically located across the State, will enable a significant portion of the State's current agricultural base, specifically in tobacco, corn, and other readily manipulatable crops, to convert to engineered bioproducts that will provide the raw material of numerous bioprocessing plants throughout the State; and
Whereas, this unique alliance among the State's universities, community colleges, and biomanufacturing companies will provide citizens of all educational levels and work levels with access to the large‑scale, realistic experience needed to enter into this field, no matter where the citizen resides within the State, from the high school educated textile worker who is retooling to change industries to the microbiologist with a doctoral degree who wants to change careers and enter the biomanufacturing world; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the sum of thirty‑five million dollars ($35,000,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year to be used for the capital and operating expenses of establishing the main biomanufacturing training center in the triangle area.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Community College System Office the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year to assist with the capital and operating expenses of establishing six additional regional biomanufacturing training centers at regional community colleges, one in each of the remaining regional economic development regions areas.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.