The National Coalition for Science and Technology (NCST) has been advocating the establishment of a Science Trust Fund. In its current version, the Fund is expected to provide approximately $1 billion a year for civilian—sector technology.
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...
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