ISSUE 7: March 26, 2007

That Was Then …

One Down, One to Go

The House Appropriations Committee (HAC) voted out its committee substitute bill containing the fiscal 2008-09 budget Wednesday. The vote was 24-2, with one abstention and two absent. The UT System overall, including general academic (GAIs) and health-related institutions (HRIs), would get $255 million more in general revenue (GR) than it’s getting in the current (FY 06-07) budget. When debt service on tuition revenue bonds is deducted, the net gain is about $108 million for the next biennium. At this stage, that’s somewhat better than the preliminary version still pending in the Senate Finance Committee (SFC).

View summary of HAC higher ed recommendations

Items placed in Article 11, the unfunded “wish list,” may not be totally out of reach just yet. The House leadership has indicated its willingness to see how much money is available at the end of the appropriations process, examine the priorities on the list closely, and fund as many items as possible.

CSHB 1 would spend a total of $150.1 billion. With the $14.2 billion appropriated by other legislation for school finance and property tax relief, and a much smaller amount of supplemental appropriations, state spending would rise from the current $144.6 billion to $164.3 billion for fiscal 2008-09, a 13.5 percent increase (5.3 percent excluding school finance spending). According to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey, the Legislature could spend considerably more, however, without exceeding the constitutional spending limit.

The bill does not appropriate $4.2 billion in available revenue, and another $4.3 billion goes into the Economic Stabilization (“Rainy Day”) Fund, for a total of $8.5 billion. It would cost $4.5 billion to pay for all of the wish list items, slightly more than the approximately $4.25 billion that could be spent during the next biennium without busting the cap.

HAC Chair Warren Chisum (Pampa) said he plans to have the budget bill to the House floor Thursday. The House has adopted a rule governing consideration of floor amendments [click on link to view]. With supplemental appropriations also on the calendar [see “For a Few Dollars More” below], it should be a long day.

CSHB 1 is available on line. (Note: 18.3 mb file)

The SFC has finished most of its higher ed mark-up but postponed higher ed riders, HRIs and pending items until Tuesday, along with all “wish list” items. Among them is a state employee salary increase. No decisions have been made on HRI funding. No exceptional items have been adopted to date, including for Art. 11; apparently they are being held until conference committee.

Among the most recent highlights from the Senate GAI workgroup:

• The Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN), a 33-school data communications collaboration, was wish-listed. It has been suggested that it be considered by the full SFC during its final higher ed deliberations.

• The Small Institution Supplement cap will remain at 5,000 headcount and be studied during the interim formula study, for which $1 million has been wish-listed.

• A Sustainable Water Resource Center at UT Arlington was placed in “Other” (but not Art. 11).

• UT Austin would receive $500,000 for the Forensic Science Commission. Senators discussed moving it to an HRI, but the statute designates UT Austin as the lead entity for the commission, along with the Texas Legislative Council and the Legislative Budget Board.

SFC Chair Steve Ogden (Bryan) hopes to vote out the committee substitute for SB 1 before April 8th.

 

For a Few Dollars More

Last week the HAC also approved its supplemental appropriations bill. HB 15 would spend almost $425 million in GR during the current and next biennia: $207.3 million in FY 07, $103.4 million in FY 08, and $113.4 million in FY 09, according to the fiscal note. Of note, correctional managed health care would receive $12.9 million total, and the Forensic Science Commission would get $45,000.

The SFC is expected to consider its supplemental appropriations bill sometime next week.

 

And in This Corner …

As the House prepared to debate its version of the budget, Democrats on Wednesday released "Budget Priorities for a Secure, Healthy and Educated Texas"[Note: 3.52 mb file]. The outline of their budget priorities includes a tuition freeze coupled with more state higher ed funding; fully funding TEXAS Grants at 100 percent eligibility; re-opening the Texas Tomorrow Fund in its pre-tuition deregulation format; and restoring and expanding the Advanced Research Program. According to Gallery Watch, many of the Democrats’ proposals could be offered as floor amendments to CSHB 1 on Thursday.

Fiscal Nuts and Budget Bolts

The budget-writing committees’ regular meeting times and places, clerks and phone numbers are:

House Appropriations – 8 a.m. daily (usually, and upon House adjournment as needed) E1.030 (HAC Hearing Room, Capitol Extension 1st floor) Cristina Self, 463-1091

Senate Finance – 8 a.m. daily (usually, and upon Senate adjournment as needed) E1.036 (SFC Hearing Room, Capitol Extension 1st floor) Amy Jeter, 463-0370

From session to session, the two houses alternate writing the initial version of the appropriations bill. The starting point this session is HB 1, but both the SFC and HAC, or the SFC workgroups and HAC subcommittees, have met almost daily. Once both the Senate and the House have approved spending plans, the legislative leadership will appoint a 10-member conference committee to reconcile differences in the two proposed budgets. Conferee workgroups will formulate recommendations to the committee, which will present a compromise bill to each house for approval.

Higher Ed Highlights

The Senate Higher Education Subcommittee voted out bills last Monday on a range of topics affecting faculty, staff and students.

On faculty recruitment and retention, SB 1055 (Zaffirini) would create a joint commission to study future faculty supply and demand issues facing Texas.

President Blandina Cardenas of UT Pan American, who suggested the bill, testified that at UTPA, in spite of aggressive recruiting and enhancement efforts, less than 50 percent of advertised tenure-track positions were filled in 2005-06. According to the U.S. Labor Department, only about 28 percent of doctoral graduates enter academia annually.

“It has become clear that we are in a high-stakes competition to recruit, hire and retain qualified faculty to teach our students,” Cardenas said. “The cost implications of this competition for a scarce resource are significant.”

UTPA is concerned about other schools raiding its faculty, she said, as they progress professionally. But she noted that all Texas colleges and universities are competing nationally for their faculty, not just those shooting for the academic “stars.”

Meanwhile, demand is growing. Cardenas quoted a national projection that 2.5 million more students will be enrolled in degree-granting institutions by 2015, a 15 percent increase over current levels. Texas will be educating 630,000 more students if it meets the goals of the state’s Closing the Gaps plan, requiring 17,000 more faculty.

SB 51 (Zaffirini) would entitle employees of junior colleges and institutions of higher education (except medical and dental units) who are physically assaulted while performing their official duties to take paid "assault leave" to recuperate from injuries. This leave would be in addition to other paid leaves and could not be deducted from any accrued time for other types of leave. The regular pay rate would be reduced by any workers' compensation received, but employees would continue to receive 100 percent of their regular salaries. Public school district employees already have this entitlement.

According to the Texas Faculty Association, most such situations on college campuses involve threats. But Minerva Ybarra, who requested the bill, explained how threats can become all too real. The Laredo Community College counseling director was stabbed last year while in her office during spring registration. During her two-and-a-half month recuperation, she declined to use sick leave and vacation, as required, and lost considerable salary and benefits, despite receiving worker’s compensation. She said she continues to suffer ill effects from the attack.

Other bills dealt with:
• Academic advising – SB 1053 (Zaffirini) requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to devise an assessment of academic advising to be performed at each college campus.

• UT El Paso student rec fee – As of fall 2007, SB 963 (Shapleigh) would raise the $12 cap on UTEP’s recreational facility fee to not more than $70 for a term or semester of at least 10 weeks, or $50 for any other term or semester. However, for a term or semester prior to fall 2009, the fee could not exceed $20 for a semester or summer session. Increases would require approval in a student referendum.

All four bills were reported favorably to the Senate Education Committee.

The House Higher Education Committee reported favorably several bills last Monday, including the UT Brownsville student recreation fee bill (HB 1505, Lucio) and the UT Permian Basin student services building fee bill (HB 1157, West). Also moving ahead were HBs 86 (Branch), 534 (Smithee), 741 (T. King), 902 (Crownover), and 1187 (Morrison), most of which deal with various tuition and fee discounts/exemptions.

Miscellany

“Never Again”

On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously and rather eloquently passed the Sudan divestment bill. CSSB 247, by Sen. Rodney Ellis (Houston), requires the state’s two largest pension funds to withdraw investments in companies doing business in the strife-torn African nation.

Ellis’s bill focuses on divestment from publicly traded companies that are the least willing to revoke their support for the Sudanese government. The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) and Employees Retirement System (ERS) would have 15 months to work with such companies before pursuing divestment.

Unlike the original bill, the committee substitute does not apply to the UT System or the University of Texas Investment Management Company. The bill removes the duty of ERS to adopt a list of scrutinized companies that would apply to other entities, now limited to TRS, and shifts it to the comptroller.

In advocating for the bill, Ellis quoted a well-known Nazi resister (see “Duly Noted” below), and Sen. Florence Shapiro (Plano) invoked the memory of her father, a Holocaust survivor. He often told her in reference to genocide, “Never again. Never again.”

The U.S. government has officially declared genocide to have occurred in Sudan, specifically in the Darfur region. Seven states, including California, and 30 colleges and universities have ceased investing in companies doing business with the Sudanese government, according to Adam Sterling, director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force. Texas is one of 20 states considering following suit, according to the Quorum Report.

Sudan-related investments comprise about $500 million, or between one-half and 1 percent of the Texas funds’ combined total value. Under Ellis's bill, the pension funds can seek alternative investments to replace the divestments or opt out entirely if unable to do so at similar rates of return. Sterling said that Sudan relies heavily on foreign investment, estimating that up to 80 percent of its oil revenues are spent on weapons used in Darfur.

The task force has identified 29 companies as the worst offenders, mostly Chinese, Malaysian and Indian oil companies but also the French oil consortium Schlumberger and Sudatel, the telephone company accused of deactivating cell phone towers near villages before militia attacks.

The identical companion, HB 667 by Van Arsdale, awaits a hearing before the House Pensions and Investments Committee.

Watch floor debate (beg. 44:40)

 

Statue Statute Set in Stone

After a lively and sometimes rancorous debate, HB 459 regarding state monuments and memorials was postponed Wednesday, effectively ending its consideration this session. The bill, by Rep. Sid Miller (Stephenville), would have required approval exclusively by the Legislature, Texas Historical Commission, or the State Preservation Board, which oversees the Capitol and grounds, before a statue or monument on state property could be removed. That would have included monuments and memorials on college campuses. Floor amendments targeting statues of Confederate heroes spawned some heated exchanges and protracted arguments. Eventually, Miller and State Affairs Chair David Swinford (Dumas) expressed regret over the unintended controversy. The House agreed to let Miller postpone further consideration until the Fourth of July. (The session ends May 28.)

…This Is Now

 

If It’s Monday, It’s Higher Ed

Committee hearings today on bills of interest include:

House Higher Education

HB 841 (Raymond) creates a new "assault leave" entitlement for certain state university and junior college employees (companion to SB 51 by Zaffirini). The bill requires junior college districts and public university systems to grant paid leave to an employee who is physically assaulted while performing regular duties. During the leave, the employee is entitled to the regular rate of pay, except that the amount must be reduced by any workers’ compensation insurance benefits to which the employee is entitled. UT System and its institutions would be required to modify leave policies to include assault leave and develop processes for determining whether the employee was assaulted. Because an employee could be entitled to up to two years’ assault leave, the institution would have to determine how to accomplish the employee’s job functions during the absence. Fiscal impact should be minimal, however, as such incidents are rare, and associated costs would be offset by workers' compensation.

HB 2198 (Flores) and HB 2336 (Bonnen) would authorize bachelor’s degree programs at public community and junior colleges. Currently, three public junior colleges are participating in a pilot project to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of such programs. HB 2198 would require the THECB to authorize baccalaureate degree programs at those three junior colleges and at an additional public junior college if the THECB determines that it is in the best interest of the state. HB 2336 authorizes Brazosport College, Midland College, and South Texas College to offer baccalaureate degree programs.

Unless authorized by THECB rule, a public junior college may not offer more than five baccalaureate degree programs at any time. Junior-level and senior-level courses must be funded at the same formula rate as substantially similar courses offered by a general academic teaching institution that provides tenured faculty to teach those courses and using the General Academic Formula methodology. The THECB is required to conduct a study to examine the feasibility and benefits of increasing the number of public junior colleges offering baccalaureate degree programs and the number of such programs offered by each of those colleges.

View hearing agenda ll Watch hearing video

Senate Higher Education Subcommittee

SB 1325 (West) would prohibit a student from receiving a scholarship originating from and administered by an institution of higher education or university system if the person is related to a current member of the institution’s or system’s governing board. However, the person may be eligible if under any of these four criteria: the scholarship is granted by a private organization or third party not affiliated with the institution or system; the scholarship is awarded exclusively on the basis of prior academic merit; the scholarship is an athletic scholarship; or the relationship is not within the third degree by consanguinity or the second degree by affinity.

SB 1234 (Zaffirini) sets forth requirements for the statewide five-year master plan for higher education currently being developed by the THECB. The plan must include a re-examination of the purposes, needs, and goals of higher education; consideration of methods for defining the roles and missions of institutions of higher education in a way that is consistent with the state's needs and goals; consideration of more effective methods for funding higher education; consideration of methods for establishing a coherent long-term student financial aid strategy that takes into account both student financial need and student achievement; recommendations for strengthening collaboration between two-year and four-year institutions of higher education; and recommendations for developing and reinforcing long-term collaboration between and among primary, secondary, and post-secondary educational institutions.

SB 1233 (Zaffirini) authorizes higher education institutions to charge a general property deposit to cover losses, damages, or breakage for which the student is responsible and to cover any other amounts owed by the student. The institutions must return the deposit, less any amounts owed, within a reasonable time period but not later than 180 days after withdrawal or graduation.

View hearing agenda ll Watch hearing live

Senate State Affairs (pending business)

SB 1102 (Duncan) purports to allow the UT System and other governmental units to continue to use the previously accepted modified accrual basis for financial accounting and reporting. The bill provides that, to the extent that generally accepting accounting principles require accounting and reporting of post-employment benefits on any basis other than "pay as you go" or "modified accrual," those principles do not apply to this state or political subdivisions.
The bill would reverse in Texas the requirements of changes in national accounting rules requiring government financial reporting to use the full accrual basis instead of the previously accepted modified accrual basis. Under the modified accrual basis, revenue is recognized when it becomes available and measurable, and expenditures are typically recognized in the period in which the liability is incurred. The full accrual basis would dramatically increase the stated cost of future post-employment benefits.

View hearing agenda ll Watch hearing live


House Government Reform Committee

HB 2443 (Callegari) is an omnibus bill that amends the Government Code to abolish and delete references to the Telecommunications Planning and Oversight Council and makes the Department of Information Resources responsible for those activities; amends the UT System eminent domain provisions in the Education Code to eliminate references to the defunct federal Super-conducting Super Collider project; and update references to the Property Code.

View hearing agenda ll Watch hearing live

Session Snapshot

Week	12
Days Remaining	64
Bills/Joint Resolutions Filed*	6,144
Bills/Joint Resolutions Passed**
>House	105
>Senate	92
Bills Enacted*	5
Legislation Tracked	1,860
High Priority Bills	371

*Incl. SCR 20 (const. spending limit)
**By each house

The bill filing deadline was March 9, the 60th day of the session (we’re almost caught up now). To file a bill now requires a four-fifths vote of the members present in either house. Legislative deadlines and other important dates may be found at Key Legislative Dates.

House Committees’ permanent meeting schedules

Senate Committees’ permanent meeting schedules

Duly Noted

In extolling his Sudan divestment bill passed by the Senate Tuesday (see “Never Again” above), Sen. Rodney Ellis (Houston) read into the record a variation on what became a famous poem known as “First They Came … .”

To explain why Texas should pass such legislation, Ellis quoted the late German minister and Nazi resister Martin Niemoller as saying, “In Germany, they came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. And then they came for me, and, by that time, no one was left to speak.”