For all of her fierce opposition to angel tax credits, Rep. Ann Lenczewski (D-Bloomington) now has a more pressing issue to focus on: how to pay for them.Legislative sources say the question has moved beyond passing the bill to financing it. By one estimate, the credit enjoys the support of 100 lawmakers in the 136-member [...]

Republicans expected the House bill to proceed to conference committee where it could continue to be tweaked. But instead the Senate opted to immediately pass the House version of the bill and send it to the governor’s desk.

Called the Production Assistance for Cellular Therapies Program, or PACT, the money will help the university more quickly win Food and Drug Administration approval to launch clinical trials.

This is the second major divestiture for AMS in the past six months. The Minnetonka-based company sold its Ovion sterilization technology to Mountain View, Calif.-based Conceptus Inc. for $23.6 million last October.

Rep. Ann Lenczweski, the powerful House Tax Committee chairwoman, has unexpectedly proposed a bill of her own. Instead of awarding tax credits to investors who fund early-stage, high tech start-ups, the bill provides grants directly to the companies.

Politicians, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have long criticized the school for inhibiting innovation rather than creating it. But that criticism is getting old, or at least it should be. Under Jay Schrankler and Doug Johnson, the school’s tech transfer program has made enormous strides.

For the past two years, the Minnesota House committee that oversees bioscience development held a special hearing on why Minnesota needs an angel investor tax credit to boost high tech companies. And for the past two years, nothing happened.