Appropriation Bills
Last Thursday, The Texas House and Senate released introductory versions of each body’s appropriation bill.
- Both bills are essentially the same except for a couple of items.
- This was a good start, not as disconcerting as we projected last year when looking ahead.
- 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.
