Your Online ASU Legislative Connection
Volume 3 Issue 3

Dear Sun Devil Advocate,

The Arizona Legislature just concluded the Second Regular Session of the 47th Legislature. The session lasted 165 days, well beyond the lawmakers’ self-imposed 100-day deadline. The lengthy session was due in large part to the challenges of enacting the state’s fiscal year 2007 budget amidst a record budget surplus.

From ASU’s perspective, the long session was worth the wait. The state budget, approved by the Arizona Legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Napolitano, makes significant investments in Arizona State University. We thank Governor Napolitano and the Arizona Legislature for their public service, hard work and commitment to Arizona’s higher education system.

You may recall that heading into the legislative session ASU’s legislative priorities for increased investments, in order of priority, were as follows:

We are very pleased that the recently approved fiscal year 2007 state budget continues the state’s recent trend of investing in higher education. The budget provides full funding of enrollment growth for the universities. This is the first time in ten years the legislature has fully funded enrollment growth at the level requested by the Arizona Board of Regents. The enrollment growth investment is crucial to enhancing ASU’s accessibility and the quality of the undergraduate academic experience.

The new state budget also contains a $20 million discretionary adjustment to the base budgets of the universities. This investment is allocated according to student enrollments at the universities, and ASU’s share is $10.6 million. The increased investment will enable us to construct the new academic buildings on the Polytechnic campus. The flexibility provided in the legislation will also enable us to use the balance of the investment on other initiatives to help move ASU forward.

The budget also contains funding for building renewal. This is the first time that building renewal dollars have been provided since 2001. The legislation funds 28% of the building renewal formula and will provide ASU with $6.5 million to invest in the long-overdue repair of some of our campus facilities.

Another key component of the approved budget is the funding for employee health insurance and retirement contribution increases. The exact dollar amounts available to ASU to cover these increases are not available at this time. However, ASU will receive its share of $76 million allocated for these purposes. This is a critical investment because without these dollars ASU would be forced to divert resources away from the core educational mission to cover health insurance and retirement contribution expenses.

Again, these increased investments would not have been possible without Governor Napolitano’s and the Arizona Legislature’s commitment to advancing Arizona’s higher education system. We are very grateful and appreciate their dedicated public service.

We are drafting ASU’s 2006 Legislative Report. This publication will provide a comprehensive analysis of the issues impacting ASU during the 2006 legislative session. It will be available online for your review upon its completion.

We also want to thank members of the Sun Devil Advocates Network for their efforts which contributed to this favorable outcome. The Sun Devil Advocates Network continues to play a pivotal role in the evolution of Arizona State University.

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.

P.P.S. If you have a different e-mail address you would prefer us to use, just email us at advoteam@sundeviladvocates.org with your new e-mail address and we’ll make the change.

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