STATE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
May 29, 2007
(This update is produced by the UH System Office of Governmental Relations and the UH Division of University Advancement as a service to the UH System community.)
SESSION ADJOURNS
Votes on the appropriations bill were stalled past typical deadlines because of negotiations with the Governor on higher education funding. Ultimately, the bill passed with new funding for universities. The session began with a focus on higher education with significant increases in capital funding: Tuition revenue bonds were fully funded, and the Higher Education Fund was increased from $175 million to $262.5 million. Enrollment growth for the formulas was also included in the base appropriations bill.
The final bill includes increases in formula funding, a seven-percent increase in funding for higher education group insurance premiums and created the Competitive Knowledge Fund that supports research faculty at the University of Houston, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and The University of Texas at Austin. Funding for the Research Development Fund (Tier One) was doubled and now totals $40.4 million per year, resulting in a 46-percent increase for UH. To meet the Governor’s request, $100 million was added as incentive funding for universities to be distributed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in fiscal year 2009. Funding for TEXAS Grants was increased by $93 million and the work-study program increased from $10 million to $15 million.
In addition, several special items were created or increased in the bill. UH received $5 million in contingent funding for wind energy research. UH-Victoria received $1.1 million for a new master’s degree in nursing. An increase of $473,787 was provided for system administration, and the Small Business Development Center received an additional $459,260.
We were fortunate to receive funding for UH in two other bills. The emergency appropriations bill allocated $2.55 million for Hurricane Katrina-related expenses, and the claims bill reimburses $585,594 to the Division of Research for improperly prepared vouchers.
In the last 72 hours of the session, bills that had failed to receive final approval were placed as amendments on other bills with greater possibility of reaching the Governor’s desk. Some of these “ornaments” survived, but many were removed for not being germane to the main purpose of the bill. This is not an unusual tactic, but it takes much careful reading to find all the moving parts at the end of the session. For example, a bill to regulate contracts for campus book stores was placed on a bill relating to a publisher’s responsibility for providing educational materials to the blind. The bookstore bill did not survive on that so-called “vehicle.” Another topic, reimbursement from student health care insurance, was placed in various forms in two other bills. One, which required a study of this issue, was removed. A variation of the bill that simply allows universities to retain the funds if they choose to set up such a program survived on HB 3430.
Much has been written in the newspapers about The University of Texas’ attempts to alter the top ten percent admissions law. Until the wee hours Saturday night, it looked as if it would pass, but they failed to get a majority vote in the House on the conference committee report.
While this is the final weekly report, we will provide a further report on the final disposition of general bills of interest along with a detailed report on the appropriations bill later.
