Your Online ASU Legislative Connection
Volume 2 Issue 4

Dear ASU Advocate Friend,

First and foremost, I want to thank all of you for your help in the recently adjourned legislative session. When we asked for your help to send an email action alert to your legislators, you generated hundreds of emails on issues that were important to Arizona State University.

Last July, we started with 298 advocates as of today, we now have 1155 advocates — a 288% increase! Thank you for recruiting members to the Sun Devil Advocate Network! As you will read in the legislative update from Scott Smith, Director of State and Local Relations for ASU, he talks about the success we had at the legislature this year and thanks largely to your help, the legislature made higher education and ASU a priority in 2005.

Legislative Update

123 days after it began, the First Regular Session of the 47th Legislature adjourned sine die shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Friday, May 13, 2005. In short, the 2005 legislative session was a success for Arizona State University as it resulted in the state significantly increasing its investment in ASU. We are very grateful to the governor and legislative leaders for their efforts this session.

Please note that as of this writing the state budget has not been approved by the governor. Thus, the following budgetary items are contingent upon her approval. The fiscal year (FY) 2006 state budget that the legislature sent to the governor includes a $12.6 million investment in ASU for enrollment growth; a $1 million investment in ASU for the establishment of our Bioinformatics Department; and, a $6 million investment in the University of Arizona for the establishment of a medical campus in downtown Phoenix. Exactly half of the Bioinformatics and the medical school investments are contingent upon the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) reporting to the legislature on the plans for the downtown medical campus.

The budget package also includes Senate Bill 1517 (Higher Education Budget). This legislation contains numerous provisions relating to higher education, including:

• A $4 million annual investment, from FY-06 through FY-10, to the universities and community colleges to facilitate the production of nursing graduates.
  
• The creation of a credit hour threshold to eliminate state funding for students carrying excess credits. The threshold becomes effective in FY-07 and is phased in over three fiscal years.
• The requirement for the Arizona Board of Regents to study the feasibility of limiting tuition increases for continuing students to no more than inflation and report its findings to the legislature.

Earlier versions of the budget bills, as well as a separate piece of legislation, proposed limiting future tuition increases to inflation for continuing students. On the surface such a proposal would seem reasonable; however, the measure would have had devastating consequence for ASU. Given the recent enrollment growth, ASU has only been able to maintain academic quality, and increase affordability and accessibility, through the recent tuition increases. The establishment of a tuition cap would have negated our advancements in these areas, and led to even larger tuition increases for new incoming students. We were very pleased the legislature decided to require the Regents to study this issue and look forward to reviewing their findings.

Another proposal contained in previous versions of the higher education budget bills would have established some level of legislative oversight on third party financing of capital projects -- these are university capital projects financed through bonds or lease purchase arrangements with tax-exempt non-profit organizations. We appreciated the legislature’s desire to have greater oversight of these financing arrangements, and worked to accomplish the objective. In the end, however, the oversight provisions were removed. Before concluding my report, I want to review the final disposition of several other bills relating to higher education. One of this session’s mostly debated items was the proposal to grant community colleges the authority to offer baccalaureate degrees. The proposal was presented in three different bills and in various forms, but ultimately the legislature did not approve the measure. However, on the final night of session, Speaker Weiers announced the establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on Higher Education to continue examining the issue.

House Bill 2261 (Universities; Tuition Monies; Scholarships) proposed to prohibit the use of tuition monies for financial aid purposes. This bill would have been devastating to the financial aid programs administered at Arizona’s public universities. In the end, the bill was not approved.

House Concurrent Resolution 2029 (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) was a referendum measure proposing maximum limits on state revenues and expenditures. This resolution, if referred to the ballot and approved by voters, would have amended Arizona’s constitution to place a cap on state government spending. A spending cap would severely limit the ability of future legislatures to make investments in the university system. Ultimately, the measure was defeated in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 2030 (NOW: Public Programs; Citizenship) prohibits students without lawful immigration status from paying in-state tuition and from receiving tuition or fee waivers, grants, scholarship assistance, financial aid or any other types of assistance funded with state monies. This measure was approved by the legislature and is awaiting the Governor’s action.

In closing, I want to reiterate that we are pleased with the outcome of the legislative session. Our legislative endeavors would not have been possible without the governor’s and the Arizona Legislature’s commitment to advancing higher education in the State of Arizona. We are very grateful and appreciate their hard work and dedicated public service. Lastly, I want to thank the Sun Devil Advocates Network members for your instrumental efforts which helped achieve this positive outcome. I believe the Sun Devil Advocate Network laid the foundation for a solid future with its 2005 legislative efforts and I am eagerly looking forward to your involvement in ASU’s 2006 legislative campaign.

Closing Thoughts

Again, thank you for signing up to be a Sun Devil Advocate and acting on the action alerts, your help has been invaluable. Also, please stay connected while the legislature is not in session by continuing to read our monthly, electronic newsletter. Additionally, we will be working hard to increase our army and get more and more ASU supporters involved. With your help we can make the 2006 legislative session even more successful than this one.

If you have any suggestions, comments or observations you would like to share with us, just click on this link advoteam@sundeviladvocates.org and let us know.

Jeff Grant, Director of Advocacy
ASU Alumni Association

P.S. If you want to become an active member of the ASU Alumni Association, one of the best ways you can give back is through membership in the ASU Alumni Association. The annual dues of $45 offer an affordable way to help build ASU’s reputation. Visit www.asu.edu/alumni/membership or call 1-800-ALUMNUS.

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