The Fund has evolved from the version outlined earlier (The Scientist, March 9, 1987, p. 10), and it will continue to evolve. As our chairman, Don Stein, has said, "Science legislation, like science, develops through the free and open discussion of ideas. In the process, the legislation gets developed, criticized and improved."
In the current draft, the Science Trust Fund is a congressionally chartered, independent corporation rather than a part of the National Science Foundation. We have also abandoned the tax on information as a source of revenue. We now propose that the federal government, state governments and private industry all help endow the Fund. A one-time federal appropriation of $30 billion would be leveraged against state matching funds and industry investments to endow the Fund. Patent revenues and other user fees would provide income to replace expenditures from the seed capital.
The Science Trust Fund is moving toward introduction. ...
