Bill

HB 1000

84(R) - 2015
House Higher Education
House Higher Education
Higher Education

Vote Recommendation

No
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Negative
  • Neutral

Author(s)

John Zerwas

Bill Caption

Relating to state support for general academic teaching institutions in this state.

Fiscal Notes

No significant fiscal implication to the State or local government.

Bill Analysis

HB 1000 would rename the Texas Competitive Knowledge Fund (TCKF) as the Texas Research University Fund, and would make changes to the eligibility of the fund. The bill would provide that eligible institutions are institutions designated as research universities that made total annual research expenditures of at least $450 million in three consecutive fiscal years, and removes emerging research universities from eligibility.

The bill would rename the Research Development Fund (RDF) as the Comprehensive Research Fund and would make changes to the eligibility of the fund. The bill would provide that eligible institutions are general academic teaching institutions other than The University of Texas (UT) at Austin, Texas A&M University, or emerging research universities.

The bill would create the Core Research Support Fund to provide funding to promote increased research capacity at emerging research universities50 percent of funding would be distributed to eligible institutions each fiscal year based on the average amount of restricted research funds expended by each institution per year for the three preceding state fiscal years. The remaining 50 percent would be distributed based on the average amount of total research funds expended by each institution per year for the three preceding state fiscal years. The funds received would be used only for the support and maintenance of educational and general activities that promote increased research capacity at the institution.

This bill would not negatively impact General Revenue Funds and only shift funds between each of the new and redefined funds.

Vote Recommendation Notes

05/25/2015 update:

Minor changes were made that do not affect our vote recommendation. The second chamber sponsor is Senator Seliger.

First chamber recommendation:

While this bill would not authorize new appropriations, it does set up the framework for the appropriation and spending of significant sums of taxpayer funds on state research universities. Due to the expansion in the cost of government which this legislation would facilitate, we are opposed.