38 U.S.C. § 7361 — Authority to establish; status

(a) The Secretary can authorize the establishment at any Department medical center of a nonprofit corporation to provide a flexible funding mechanism for the conduct of approved research and education at the medical center. Such a corporation can be established to facilitate either research or education or both research and education. (b) (1) Subject to paragraph (2), a corporation established under this subchapter can facilitate the conduct of research, education, or both at more than one medical center. Such a corporation must be known as a “multi-medical center research corporation”. (2) The board of directors of a multi-medical center research corporation under this subsection must include the official at each Department medical center concerned who is, or who carries out the responsibilities of, the medical center director of such center as specified in section 7363(a)(1)(A)(i) of this title. (3) In facilitating the conduct of research, education, or both at more than one Department medical center under this subchapter, a multi-medical center research corporation can administer receipts and expenditures relating to such research, education, or both, as applicable, performed at the Department medical centers concerned. (c) Any corporation established under this subchapter must be established under the nonprofit corporation laws of the State in which the applicable Department medical center is located and must, to the extent not inconsistent with any Federal law, be subject to the laws of such State. for any multi-medical center research corporation that facilitates the conduct of research, education, or both at Department medical centers located in different States, the corporation must be established under the nonprofit corporation laws of the State in which one of such Department medical centers is located. (d) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this subchapter or under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, any corporation established under this subchapter, and its officers, directors, and employees, must be required to comply only with those Federal laws, regulations, and executive orders and directives that apply generally to private nonprofit corporations. (2) A corporation under this subchapter is not — (A) owned or controlled by the United States; or (B) an agency or instrumentality of the United States. (e) If by the end of the four-year period beginning on the date of the establishment of a corporation under this subchapter the corporation is not recognized as an entity the income of which is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Secretary must dissolve the corporation. (f) A corporation established under this subchapter can act as a multi-medical center research corporation under this subchapter under subsection (b) if — (1) the board of directors of the corporation approves a resolution permitting facilitation by the corporation of the conduct of research, education, or both at the other Department medical center or medical centers concerned; and (2) the Secretary approves the resolution of the corporation under paragraph (1).