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Committee hears changes to Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment governance
Summary
A Senate committee heard public testimony and staff briefing on a bill that would let the Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment board select its program administrator and exempt certain community outreach grants from independent scientific review and matching-fund requirements.
The Senate Health Care & Wellness Committee heard testimony March 25 on Senate Bill 5,455, which would change how the Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment selects a program administrator and adjusts review and matching requirements for certain outreach grants.
The bill, staff said, lets the endowment’s 13-member board “create one or more tax-exempt nonprofit corporations” and select the program administrator, who may be paid a board-determined fee and operating costs. Jim Morishima, staff to the committee, told members the bill removes the statutory requirement that the administrator have expertise in conducting or managing research-granting activities and exempts certain activities aimed at increasing participation of underrepresented groups in clinical trials from the grant-evaluation criteria and independent scientific advisory committee review.
The changes, proponents said, are intended to help the fund partner with local governments and nonprofits and to make program administration more flexible. Senator Paul Harris, the bill’s prime sponsor, said the measure “simplifies things for the board as far as how it operates” and asked the committee for approval. Libby Mung Wymore, a governor-appointed board member of the Andy Hill Care Fund and a cancer survivor, urged passage and said, “Care Fund has invested over $58,000,000 into cancer research in our state.” Lizette Carvana, representing Evergreen Social Impact, the fund’s administrator, told the committee the changes would allow partnerships with public health districts and clarify that community outreach grants to increase trial participation are not subject to scientific review.
Committee members did not take a vote on the bill during the hearing; the record shows the committee received staff briefing and public testimony and then moved on to other agenda items. Proponents said the changes would align the endowment’s governance with similar statewide programs and lower administrative obstacles to community outreach and partnerships.
The bill’s supporters included the endowment’s board members and the fund administrator; the committee briefing and testimony did not identify any formal opposition in the hearing record. The committee continued its agenda after closing public testimony on the bill.
