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Bryan Bishop
Feb 25, 2013, 10:03:56 PM2/25/13
to diybio, Bryan Bishop
From: Jenney Choi - McNaughton <j3n...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 11:58 PM
Subject: General Housekeeping for Biolabs...
To: east-ba...@googlegroups.com
Hi guys,
Thanks for letting me sit in on your meeting. For people who don't know me, I'm a volunteer at BioCurious doing various administrative tasks and I help coordinate other volunteers.
Federal OSHA & Cal/OSHA - If you have no paid employees, your organization is not under OSHA's jurisdiction. I also have an e-mail and phone number for a Cal/OSHA officer I spoke with on the phone about this issue. They couldn't believe there was a bio lab that could exist without paid employees. But they said that if it existed, they did not have jurisdiction.
MSDS - As well you will need to consider what kind of chemicals you will have in your space and their proper storage. And you need to have a MSDS binder for first responders. http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/hazcom.pdf
It is unclear to me who is in charge of the enforcement of the MSDS, bec. it's normally under Cal/OSHA. You may want to put some effort into figuring out some kind of process by which your members tell you what chemicals they are bringing into the space and provide the MSDS for those chemicals. There were plans to have some kind of MSDS tracking software at BioC, but that did not happen.
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Date: Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 11:58 PM
Subject: General Housekeeping for Biolabs...
To: east-ba...@googlegroups.com
Hi guys,
Thanks for letting me sit in on your meeting. For people who don't know me, I'm a volunteer at BioCurious doing various administrative tasks and I help coordinate other volunteers.
So one of the concerns that Ron mentioned was that there are many logistical things involved in starting a bio lab /hacker space. I've done some research on my own by combing government websites, contacting various organizations, and harassing various "founder" people at BioC for info. Maybe you already know all this info, but I thought I'd put it out there.
Organizations that you might think matter more, but actually matter less:
CDC - The requirements in the BMBL (that outline Bio Safety Levels) have no mechanism for enforcement by the CDC unless they involve Select Agents. http://www.selectagents.gov/index.html
I did contact the CDC directly to find that out and I do have a contact at the CDC if you need it. I can forward anyone my e-mail exchange with the CDC. OSHA is more of the enforcement agency.
I did contact the CDC directly to find that out and I do have a contact at the CDC if you need it. I can forward anyone my e-mail exchange with the CDC. OSHA is more of the enforcement agency.
Federal OSHA & Cal/OSHA - If you have no paid employees, your organization is not under OSHA's jurisdiction. I also have an e-mail and phone number for a Cal/OSHA officer I spoke with on the phone about this issue. They couldn't believe there was a bio lab that could exist without paid employees. But they said that if it existed, they did not have jurisdiction.
Things that matter more:
City - Whatever municipality you are in will have specific regulations, permits and requirements. BioCurious initially looked at Mountain View, but MV was not very amenable to the idea of a biohacker space in their city. I would contact the economic development department of the city you are interested in setting up in.
MSDS - As well you will need to consider what kind of chemicals you will have in your space and their proper storage. And you need to have a MSDS binder for first responders. http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/hazcom.pdf
It is unclear to me who is in charge of the enforcement of the MSDS, bec. it's normally under Cal/OSHA. You may want to put some effort into figuring out some kind of process by which your members tell you what chemicals they are bringing into the space and provide the MSDS for those chemicals. There were plans to have some kind of MSDS tracking software at BioC, but that did not happen.
County - The county will send out inspectors and I am sure Santa Clara county has their own specific regulations vs. other counties. We did have a hazmat inspector come in from the county and we had to make some changes afterward. As far as I can see they are pretty much the first line enforcement for any state or federal regulations. The hazmat inspector seemed to care more about chemicals than biological agents.
The county and maybe city will have specific guidelines on how you deal with biohazard. You should think strongly about how you will deal with biohazard and even e-waste and recycling. If your members are coming from different municipalities, they will have vastly different ideas on what they can and cannot throw in the garbage. And I recommend you have a process and plan in place before you even open your doors.
State - Depending on the legal structure your organization takes, you may or may not have to pay state franchise taxes. BioCurious is a LLC so there are CA Franchise taxes they have to pay. https://www.ftb.ca.gov/index.shtml?disabled=true
IRS - You can be registered as a non-profit with the state, but if you do not have a 501(c)3 status with the IRS you are not tax exempt. People get a bit confused, but being and non-profit and having 501(c)3 are two different things, but of course you can be both. I believe that your 501(c)3 status does effect what kind of CA Franchise tax you may or may not pay. I strongly urge that pursuing 501(c)3 status is one of the first things you need to think about and pursue. And this requires a lawyer that specializes in it. The application process is not simple or fast and requires a lot of back and forth communication with the IRS. You will want a lawyer to deal with it. It will significantly change how long the process takes, whether your application succeeds, and your future funding options including foundation grants, never mind corporate and personal donations. It will even change what other non-profits can or cannot work with you, even volunteer recruitment non-profits like Volunteer Match.
The county and maybe city will have specific guidelines on how you deal with biohazard. You should think strongly about how you will deal with biohazard and even e-waste and recycling. If your members are coming from different municipalities, they will have vastly different ideas on what they can and cannot throw in the garbage. And I recommend you have a process and plan in place before you even open your doors.
State - Depending on the legal structure your organization takes, you may or may not have to pay state franchise taxes. BioCurious is a LLC so there are CA Franchise taxes they have to pay. https://www.ftb.ca.gov/index.shtml?disabled=true
IRS - You can be registered as a non-profit with the state, but if you do not have a 501(c)3 status with the IRS you are not tax exempt. People get a bit confused, but being and non-profit and having 501(c)3 are two different things, but of course you can be both. I believe that your 501(c)3 status does effect what kind of CA Franchise tax you may or may not pay. I strongly urge that pursuing 501(c)3 status is one of the first things you need to think about and pursue. And this requires a lawyer that specializes in it. The application process is not simple or fast and requires a lot of back and forth communication with the IRS. You will want a lawyer to deal with it. It will significantly change how long the process takes, whether your application succeeds, and your future funding options including foundation grants, never mind corporate and personal donations. It will even change what other non-profits can or cannot work with you, even volunteer recruitment non-profits like Volunteer Match.
I think that's all I can think of right now. I know there are a lot of other things I am missing in terms of regulatory bodies you want to be concerned about, but those are the major things that come to mind. Much of it depends on what organizational structure you choose. I hope this info is helpful to you.
Good luck,
Jenney
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- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
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Nathan McCorkle
Feb 25, 2013, 10:12:55 PM2/25/13
to diy...@googlegroups.com, j3n...@gmail.com
Thanks Jenny for compiling this, and Bryan for passing this along.
It seems to cover most of the key points that come up in my mind, with
the exception of zoning. I didn't see that mentioned, did you even
consider it?
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-Nathan
It seems to cover most of the key points that come up in my mind, with
the exception of zoning. I didn't see that mentioned, did you even
consider it?
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-Nathan
Jenney Choi - McNaughton
Feb 25, 2013, 10:28:14 PM2/25/13
to Nathan McCorkle, diy...@googlegroups.com
Zoning issues would be part of what you'd discuss with the economic development department of the municipality(city). In Sunnyvale, the municipality has a "one stop shop" for zoning, permits, and business licenses.
I didn't intend this post to be for wider distribution outside the group I posted to, otherwise I would have fleshed out some more details and added caveats.
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