Section 49-7-NEW - [Newly enacted section not yet numbered] [Effective 7/1/2024](a) Each public institution of higher education shall safeguard its academic research from foreign adversaries by establishing a research security policy that promotes a security culture, furthers national security interests, and mitigates threats to the integrity and conduct of the institution's research against undue foreign influence. Each institution shall implement a research security policy no later than January 1, 2025, and make the policy readily available on the institution's website.(b) Each research security policy must: (1) Comply with all applicable legal, regulatory, and contractual standards and requirements for securing and protecting the institution's academic research enterprise, including, as applicable, any research involving the institution, its campuses, and its applicable internal components;(2) Promote an institutional culture of compliance with the institution's research security policy consistent with federal regulations to ensure that the institution maintains eligibility for federal funding, including, as applicable, federal risk mitigation requirements pertaining to standardized disclosures, cybersecurity, foreign travel security, insider threats, and export controls;(3) Address: (A) Efforts to maintain publicly accessible contact information;(B) Processes to regularly update the institution's research security policy; and(C) The establishment of internal processes to ensure compliance with, and reporting within, the institution's research security policy;(4) Distribution of communications, state and federal, on research security matters concerning the institution's academic research enterprise, including, as applicable, any research involving the institution, its campuses, institutes, and its applicable internal components; and(5) Processes to identify and address compliance concerns at the institution that are consistent with the institution's research security policy.(c) The governing board of each public institution of higher education shall submit a report on the institution's compliance with this section no later than July 1, 2025, to the chairs of the education committee of the senate and the education committees of the house of representatives.Added by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 955,s 1, eff. 7/1/2024.