80^th Texas Legislature

Updates from Austin

Legislative Agenda

Special Items Request

How the Process Works

Useful Links

110^th U.S. Congress

Updates from Washington

Federal Agenda

Useful Links

Contact Information

Archives

University of Houston System
2005 State Legislative Agenda

The UH Systemıs state legislative agenda for the next biennium has four components: Base Funding, Capital Construction, Research Development Fund (the Tier One initiative), and Tuition.

Base Funding Issues

• Increase Formula Funding: The Legislature allocates funds to all Texas public universities through a process called "Formula Funding." Based on factors such as enrollment by level and discipline, and predicted square foot needs, Formula Funding provides for the core functions of the state's public universities. The 78th Legislature reduced Formula Funding in 2003. As enrollment continues to grow, it is imperative to restore funding levels for basic educational services.
• Formula changes: A Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board formula advisory committee has recommended a revised formula that will result in reductions for UH System institutions, ranging from $1.7 million to $8 million per year.
• Special Items: Continued support for Special Items funding, more appropriately called non-formula items, is of vital importance. They include such things as the Texas Learning and Computation Center, the Small Business Development Center, and other activities that do not fall into Formula Funding categories.
• Desired Outcomes:
  • Restore formula funding to the levels necessary to ensure basic educational services.
  • Approve funding for all special items.

Capital Construction

• Tuition Revenue Bonds: Since the early 1990s, the Legislature has designated every other regular session as a Tuition Revenue Bond (TRB) session. If the trend continues, the upcoming session will be a TRB session. However, for the first time, the Legislature did not fully fund existing debt service in the 2003 appropriations bill. Therefore, universities are required to absorb unfunded debt payments out of existing revenue streams. Before new debt is authorized in the next session, full funding of existing debt must be achieved.
• Higher Education Fund (HEF): In 2005, the Legislature is constitutionally required to update and rewrite the formula for the Higher Education Fund. This is a very important process, since it will be the basis for HEF distributions for the next 10 years. If additional state resources are available after base funding and existing debt service are addressed, the Legislature is encouraged to increase the amount of funding allocated to HEF, rather than authorizing new bonds.
• Desired outcomes:
  • Before new debt is authorized, full funding of existing debt must be achieved.
  • Increase HEF funding.

Research Development Fund (Tier One)

After years of contentious debate, the Legislature fully embraced the need for making Texas more competitive in the field of research. With the Governor's approval, a bill was passed in 2003 creating a single research fund distributed on an equitable basis. However, the Governor vetoed the funds. Reinstatement and expansion of these funds is of critical importance for the continued growth of the state's economy and for the advancement in significant areas such as bionano technology, materials science, life sciences, and other areas requiring a highly skilled workforce.

• Desired outcome:
  • Reinstatement and expansion of the Research Development Fund.