The University of Texas system stands to gain $834.2 in campus construction projects after the Texas … [+]
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As the clock ticked down on its third special session this year, the Texas legislature passed a bill that would authorize more than $3.3 billion in revenue bonds for dozens of construction and renovation projects at public universities and health facilities across the state.
Senate Bill 52 now goes to the desk of Governor Greg Abbott for his signature. Last week Abbott had amended the special session’s agenda at Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s request to include “legislation to improve higher education,” allowing lawmakers to take up the issue. (During a special session, legislators can’t pass new laws that the governor has not put on the agenda.)
The total tab for the final bill increased from the Senate’s original version of about $3 billion, after the House included more than $200 million in additional projects in its version.
The bill passed both chambers easily, with broad bipartisan support. The vote in the House was 131-8, and in the Senate, the bill passed by a margin of 30-1. The final deal was reached through a conference committee compromise that redistributed some of the funding. At the end of the day, public institutions in every region in the state received a share of the money.
The bill also renames what had originally been called “tuition revenue bonds” to “capital construction assistance” projects. The change means that the money borrowed for the projects will ultimately be covered by state funds. The bill requires universities to report their construction contracts to the Legislative Budget Board. It also establishes a Capital Project Oversight Commission, which will give the legislature increased oversight over how the money is finally spent.
Quoted in The Texas Tribune, Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, the bill’s author, said “This legislation will forever change and reform the way we consider these capital projects in the future.”
Supporters of the bill pointed to increased higher education enrollment of about 8% in the state since 2015, which was the last time the legislature had approved a bill for tuition revenue bonds to pay for capital improvements and construction.
“[These projects] have the capacity to provide the types of credentials that our workforce needs today and going into the future, but they also serve an economic purpose throughout our state: creating jobs, both in construction and manufacturing,” Rep. Greg Bonnen, a Republican from Friendswood, said.
The conference committee allocations (in millions of dollars) for the various public universities were:
- Texas A & M System – $727.4
- University of Texas System – $854.2
- University of Houston System – $339.5
- Texas State University System – $422.6
- U. of North Texas System – $273.3
- Texas Womans’ University – $100
- Stephen F. Austin University – $44.9
- Texas Tech University – $299.4
- Texas Southern University – $95.2
- Texas State Technical System – $208.5
Among the dozens of projects, the University of Texas System, with an enrollment of more than 240,000 students, will receive $56 million to renovate the Microelectronics Research Center at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus, and an identical amount to update the the Physics, Math, and Astronomy Building on UT’s main campus in Austin.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston was allocated $69.9 million for construction of a public health education and research building, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio will receive $59.9 million for construction of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases Building.
As examples of its projects, the Texas A&M University System, which enrolls about 150,000 students at its various campuses, was allocated $56,1 million for construction of a clinical veterinary teaching and research complex; $33.7 million for a new engineering classroom and research building at its Galveston campus; and $44.9 million each for construction of new health or academic buildings in San Antonio, Commerce, Corpus Christi, Texarkana and Laredo.
