Legislative Notes for the week of March 19-23, 2007

Omnibus bills are omnipresent

The week has been very busy as major Senate and House divisions began crafting and passing omnibus bills. These bills consider all legislation heard before the committees and encompass the state priorities in each area. Noteworthy movement includes the Senate passing an omnibus higher education bill and the Senate E-12 Committee crafting its omnibus.

The House begins crafting similar bills next week. The House Higher Education and Economic Development bill will be released at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in committee.

When similar House and Senate bills exists, a conference committee can be named to iron out the differences between the two versions. After one agreed-upon bill is created and passed, the bills go back to the House and Senate for a vote; no amendments are taken.

The Senate approves the Higher Education bill

It started in committee, passed out of Finance and was approved on the Senate Floor. The Senate Higher Education Committee now has an omnibus bill.

The overall bill totals $296 million in new money, a number that author and Higher Education Committee Chair Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, was not happy with. "I am disappointed. This is a status quo bill," she said.

Some funding was shifted within the bill. In the final version, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's Achieve II scholarship did not receive funding. This program would have given high school students $314 scholarships for taking Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or college courses in high school. The funding could later be applied to higher education costs. This money was redirected to the state grant program to pay for actual tuition costs and reduces the assigned family responsibility percentages.

Overall, the bill funding provides Minnesota State Colleges and Universities with the following biennial funding: $104 million for inflation, $10 million for technology, $14.05 million for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students, and $8 million to eliminate the nonresident tuition rate at two-year campuses.

Four amendments were offered on the Senate floor, but all failed.

The first attempted to fund the Veteran's GI bill, which would provide scholarships for veterans. This program is funded at $10 million in the bill. Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, wanted to extend that funding to $20 million.

An amendment was offered to eliminate the DREAM act provision, which allows undocumented students to attend college at in-state rates. To qualify, students must meet four criteria: attending a Minnesota high school for at least three years, earning a high school degree or GED from a state high school, being enrolled or registered at a public higher education institution, and showing proof that they are applying for citizenship. This was offered by Sen. Bill Ingebritsen, R-Alexandria.

Two were offered to control tuition increases on campus. The first would have frozen current tuition rates but provided no new funding; this also was introduced by Sen. Limmer. Higher Education Committee Chair Pappas said this was a bad idea. "The students have been testifying against this from the start of session. The students don't want this." She added that this could be detrimental to higher education institutions that cannot provide quality programs or education without funding. Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, offered a similar amendment that would limit tuition increases to three percent. This had the closest vote of 34 against-31 in-favor.

And, don't forget bonding

The House Capital Investment Committee released its bonding bill on Monday and passed it out of Finance later in the week. The legislation included $30 million for Higher Education Assets Preservation and Restoration of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses. Most of this funding would repair leaky roofs and update boilers, and heating and air conditioning systems. The bill also includes $2 million to acquire the former Bemidji High School land for Bemidji State University, as well as $1.8 million for properties adjacent to the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. This bonding totals the complete $33.8 million system request. The committee also added $720,000 for Hennepin Technical College's Brooklyn Park campus for repair and replacement funding. The total system appropriation was $34.52 million.

Higher Ed on the Range

The Senate Higher Education Committee met and discussed proposing a new campus on the Iron Range on Tuesday. Currently, the closest four-year campuses are the University of Minnesota-Duluth, St. Scholastica and Bemidji State University.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities officials testified that they would support a study to determine the feasibility of creating a four-year higher education institution on the Iron Range. The University of Minnesota also supported the study.

This language passed out of committee and was sent to Finance, where it was included in Senate Higher Education omnibus bill outlined above.

Federal Update

Higher Education Summit seeks input on Spellings Commission Report, "A Test of Leadership"

In followup to Secretary Margaret Spellings' Commission on the Future of Higher Education, more than 300 stakeholders met Thursday in Washington, D.C. to engage in a national dialogue in response to the recommendations proposed in the commission's report. With an overarching goal of building a national commitment to advance post-secondary education for all Americans, the dialogue focused on five recommended actions that are viewed as being able to make the biggest, most immediate difference in improving college access, affordability and accountability in American higher education. Work groups discussed strategies to:

Align K-12 and higher education expectations
Serve adults and other contemporary students
Increase need-based aid for access and success
Enhance affordability, decrease costs and promote productivity
Use accreditation to support and emphasize student learning

Draft recommendations were discussed, as were strategies, resources and collaboration needed to mobilize national action. Throughout the day, the Department of Education emphasized that the commission's report is initiating a national agenda, not a federal agenda, for access, affordability and accountability to ensure that higher education remains as an open system of opportunity for all Americans and provides a path to assure the nation's continued global competitiveness.

Participants included college presidents, higher education association representatives, corporate CEOs and congressional representatives. Minnesota representation included Chancellor James McCormick; Mary Jacquart, government relations director for the system; Susan Heegaard, director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education; Sally Johnstone, vice president for academic affairs at Winona State University; and representation from the Midwest Higher Education Compact and several proprietary higher education providers.

As a next step, regional dialogue will take place across the country over the summer, including a session in Kansas City for the Midwest. It also was announced that Minnesota will receive $100,000 in support of Web site upgrades for higher education consumer information. Gov. Pawlenty is serving on a steering committee addressing higher education and "A Test of Leadership" outcomes. Both Jason Rohloff and Chris Graham from the governor's federal staff also participated in the summit discussions.

Download "A Test of Leadership" (final report) and related documents.