Legislative Notes for the week of March 12-16, 2007

The need for biosciences

Senior Vice Chancellor Linda Baer on Wednesday highlighted the proposed Biosciences Center of Excellence and initiative for science, technology, engineering and math, known as STEM for short, for the House Biosciences and Emerging Technology Committee.

Baer told the legislators about various bioscience and technology happenings on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses. Karen White, director of the Center for Manufacturing and Applied Engineering based at Bemidji State University, one of the system's four Centers of Excellence established with legislative funding, also testified. She told the committee about the manufacturing center and how students can begin their studies at one of the seven two-year college partners and then move to Bemidji State to finish their four-year degree.

Also, the program is promoting manufacturing careers to high school students through camps. At camp, students can learn how to work robots and sort marbles by color using a machine. The center also is working with the state Department of Employee and Economic Development, or DEED, and manufacturing employers to bring together industry leaders and discuss how the Minnesota can play a vital role in manufacturing.

The Senate weighs in

The Senate Higher Education committee assigned numbers to its omnibus bill on Tuesday; the $296 million bill funds the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the University of Minnesota and the Office of Higher Education. The system was given $136 million under this proposal. Committee Chair Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, said the amount was "totally inadequate" for the state's higher education needs. (Please view the attachment to find the committee's specific numbers).

Items of interest in the bill included:

Funding for the governor's veterans college grants proposal at $10 million (the governor had $15 million)
$8 million for the system's two-year campuses to eliminate non-residents rates
Sen. Clare Robling, R-Jordan, included an amendment for $200,000 for a pilot textbook rental program on a system campus.
The student-crafted textbook legislation will be included.
Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, hopes to add legislation to have a study to research the feasibility of a four-year campus on the Iron Range. This could be either a system or University of Minnesota campus. This will have a hearing at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Senate Higher Education Committee.
Sen. David Tomassoni also offered an oral amendment to take out "and skills training" during campus orientations, which passed. This means that system campuses will have to provide personal financial education for students during orientations but not training in practical applications. The system already offers courses in these areas for students who want to learn how to better manage their finances.
$13 million for the Governor's Achieve II program, which would give scholarships to high school students who take rigorous courses. The governor's proposal would give each student $314 to use at any state post-secondary institution for every class they successful complete. The Senate funding is not as much as what the governor originally proposed, so new guidelines would have to be developed. The committee discussed not giving scholarships to students taking Post-Secondary Enrollment Options courses, as they would be getting funding twice for college. The committee also discussed lowering the family income requirement from $100,000 to $50,000 for eligibility. Nothing was finalized. More details should be available next week as the committee continues to advance its bill.

Budget bill process moving forward

The House Higher Education and Economic Competitiveness Committee plans to wrap up its hearings next week on bills intended to be included in the House version of the omnibus bill. It is expected that this committee will come out with budget recommendations during the final week of March. After both bodies pass the individual versions of the higher education omnibus bills, a conference committee will be formed to iron out the differences between both bills. When a finalized conference committee bill is passed, this goes back to both the House and Senate for an up or down vote and at that point, no amendments can be taken.

Driving and voting

Under a new House proposal, driving and voting could go hand-in-hand. A bill authored by Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, would require that any eligible voter applying for a new or renewed Minnesota driver's license also automatically would be registered to vote. The legislation would require the state Department of Public Safety to transfer information to the Secretary of State's office. The office would then check to make sure the person is an eligible voter, over 18, a U.S. citizen and a non-felon. The bill was approved by the House Governmental Operations, Reform, Technology and Elections Committee, and now travels to the House Finance Committee.

Federal Update

U.S. Senate proposes increasing Pell Grants

Senate Democrats proposed increasing spending to the U.S. Department of Education by $6.1 billion over President Bush's recommendation on Wednesday. The Senate budget resolution proposes an overall $62.3 billion for the Education Department in FY2008. Part of the increase will go toward raising the Pell Grant maximums, which aid the neediest students in pursuing higher education.

The House of Representatives is expected to finalize its version of the budget resolution next week. Leaders of both chambers will negotiate any differences; and appropriations committees will later prioritize spending details for individual programs.