(a) Prohibitions: Except as provided otherwise in this regulation, a Facilities Working Group member may not participate in a decision of the working group in which the individual has a conflict of interest. Non-ICOC members serving on the Facilities Working Group may not receive compensation from any construction or development entity providing specialized services for medical research facilities. Non-ICOC members may not provide real estate facilities brokerage services for any applicant for a facilities grant, or for any entity that receives funding from the Facilities Working Group, and shall not receive compensation from any recipient of CIRM funding grants.

(b) Conflict of Interest Protections: A conflict of interest exists when a non-ICOC Working Group member has a real or apparent interest in the outcome of an application such that the member is in a position to gain financially or professionally from either a positive or negative evaluation of the grant proposal.

(c) “Financial” Conflict of Interest -- Defined: A non-ICOC member has a financial conflict of interest if:

(d) “Professional” Conflict of Interest -- Defined: A non-ICOC member has a professional conflict of interest if the reviewer and a project director or manager of an application are engaged in, or are planning to be engaged in, a joint project.

(e) Disclosure: A non-ICOC working group member shall disclose confidentially and under penalty of perjury the following financial interests:

(f) Disqualification: A non-ICOC member is required to report to the CIRM staff member any conflict of interest of which he or she is aware, including, but not limited to, those described in subdivisions (c) through (e) of this regulation. Any member of the Facilities Working Group who has a real or apparent conflict of interest with respect to an application may not review or vote on the application and must leave the room when that application is discussed. In exceptional cases, the President of the CIRM may decide that the need for special expertise of the reviewer outweighs any possible bias posed by a real or apparent conflict of interest. Under these circumstances, the CIRM staff shall publicly disclose the working group member's interest before the meeting and the working group member shall be permitted to participate in the discussion but will not be permitted to vote on the application.

(g) All members reviewing grants must sign a pre-review statement indicating any possible conflicts of interest that they have, and must also sign a post-review statement that they did not participate in the discussion or review of any application for which they might have a conflict of interest, or shall indicate permission to participate was granted by the President pursuant to subdivision (f) of this regulation.

(h) Record-Keeping: All financial disclosure documents shall be kept confidential by the CIRM staff and preserved for purposes of audit as provided for in Health and Safety code Section 125290.30 and any other audit as required by law. Records of the working group indicating those members who participated in or voted on particular recommendations shall be maintained by the CIRM staff. If the CIRM or an auditor discovers a violation of these conflict of interest provisions, a report will be made to the Legislature along with a review of corrective actions taken by the CIRM to prevent future occurrences.