Texas House and Senate Release Appropriation Bills
Texas House and Senate Release Appropriation Bills

State Relations Update

Appropriation Bills

Last Thursday, The Texas House and Senate released introductory versions of each body’s appropriation bill.
  1. Both bills are essentially the same except for a couple of items.
  2. This was a good start, not as disconcerting as we projected last year when looking ahead.
  3. This is the second inning, so we still have a lot of ballgame to go.
As with most elements regarding government relations, context is required. If you recall, last summer we were instructed to return 5% of our general revenue due to the COVID pandemic. The state is using the post-5% reduction as the base funding level. Here’s a quick analysis of the general revenue (GR) bottom-line.
Texas A&M up 2.4%  
Texas A&M at Galveston up 3.3%  
These increases reflect formula gains—the additional weighted semester credit hours generated. The bill did not fund enrollment growth. 
For the Texas A&M Health Science Center, a cut of -2.9%.  It should be noted that since the HSC was not cut last year like the general academic institutions, this appropriation was in-line with overall university funding.
Items of note:
The HSC was successful in getting a performance-based research operations rider and line item created and placed into the House version—commonly called mission-specific funding. This will be a platform for additional appropriations in a manner in which the legislature has been favorably disposed.
AgriLife Research was able to secure $9 million per year for its nutrition initiative, Advancing Health Through Agriculture.  
TEES - restored 5% to Army Futures Command-related cuts.

Contact Us

As always, if you have any questions or would like to discuss state or federal higher education matters in greater detail, please let us know. Stay safe and we wish you all the best of health!
*Content for updates may include content from: The Texas A&M University System Office of Federal Relations, Association of American Universities (aau.edu), Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (aplu.org), Politico (politico.com), or Van Scoyoc Associates (vsadc.com).
(979) 458-0282
governmentrelations.tamu.edu
GR@tamu.edu
powered by emma
Subscribe to our email list.