$289 Million from Two-Year Spending Plan

June 19, 2009

By Mike Hailey

Capitol Inside Editor

Governor Rick Perry on Friday signed a $182 billion two-year state budget that the legislature approved this year after slashing $289 million from the spending plan through his line-item veto power. The Republican governor used his red pen to reduce general revenue spending that lawmakers had adopted by $97.2 million.

But the lion's share of money that Perry trimmed from the spending plan with line-item vetoes had been approved to fund legislation that failed to pass in the regular session that ended almost three weeks ago.

Article Launched: 06/20/2009

James R. Huffines

As our nation's economy continues to struggle -- and its impact on states from California to Florida has roiled higher education to sometimes painful extremes -- there is a bright spot in Texas.

In fact, Texas may well be in the higher education driver's seat for the entire nation after the 2009 legislative session wrapped up this month.

With much on their plate, but with a keen eye toward Texas' future, lawmakers made a bold decision to invest significantly in higher

Article Launched: 06/21/2009

By Diana Natalicio

At the end of each session of the Texas Legislature, we assess the impact of new legislation on UTEP, the students we serve, and the region whose human and economic development we seek to foster.

I am very pleased to report that this legislative session may well be remembered as representing a critical turning point in transforming higher education in Texas and at UTEP in particular.

The most exciting specific development was the passage of legislation designed to elevate UTEP and six other institutions to national

Article Launched: 06/21/2009

Editorial

Wish granted. The University of Texas at El Paso has been named to a special team of Texas higher-education institutions eligible to compete for elite national status as a research institution.

Attainment for such is a long way off, and many in El Paso realize that. And what may be regular hurdles to some other institutions seem like walls for UTEP. Even state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, who pushed hard for UTEP, figures it may be a decade or more away.

That's because attaining elite status calls for a lot of things: Raising millions of research dollars every year. Small professor-to-student

June 22, 2009

Enrique Rangel

The special session Gov. Rick Perry intends to call, his signing of bills the just-concluded Legislature passed and his bike accident have dominated the news from Austin recently.

But get ready for another long political season because once the special session is over the governor's race is expected to dominate the news.

Imagine, eight months of politicking (the next primary is in March of 2010). That's the price Texas voters will pay for two political

Monday, June 22, 2009

Gov. Rick Perry finalized the legislative session over the weekend by signing off on a number of bills that were sent to his desk by the Texas Legislature.

Among the bills he signed was a Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, to create a public University of North Texas Law School in Dallas.

Texas. Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, who sponsored an identical bill in the Texas House, called the passage of the UNT Law School legislation a major milestone for the North Texas area.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

William McKenzie

Rick Perry's positions on education issues this session perfectly captures the challenge Kay Hutchison faces in a primary against her fellow Republican. He took some forward-looking stands that will make it hard for her to make him out as a disaster. And he has taken some odd positions that continue to make people wonder, what's the deal?

On the forward-looking side, the governor stood eyeball-to-eyeball with fellow Republicans Rob Eissler and Florence Shapiro on the school accountability bill. His unwillingness to budge on their plans to alter the state's policy against socially promoting third, fifth and eighth graders

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

John Young

They remind me of the springer spaniel I once knew who fell in love with a moldy piece of rug.

The fight put up last week by the social conservatives on the State Board of Education reminded me of the bared-teeth tug of war that ensued when someone tried to take that piece of rug away.

The teeth were bared last week.

June 23, 2009

Mary Alice Robbins

When Gov. Rick Perry signed S.B. 956 on June 19, he gave the go-ahead for the creation of the first public law school in Texas since 1967, when the Legislature established Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock. S.B. 956 authorizes the creation of a law school that will become a part of the University of North Texas at Dallas. State Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, chairman of the House Higher Education Committee and S.B. 956's House sponsor, says the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the United States that does not have a public law school. The area has two religiously affiliated law schools – Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law

June 24, 2009

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today signed House Bill (HB) 51, which helps establish new and maintain existing Tier One universities in the state. The bill also allows the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems to issue tuition revenue bonds (TRBs) to help the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) recover from Hurricane Ike.

"We need to continue our state's march toward an academic dominance that not only matches our economic lead, but also helps us sustain our economic power by preparing our future workforce and making discoveries that can fuel future industries, jobs and life-saving products," Gov. Perry said. "HB 51 accelerates our movement in that direction by drawing a clear roadmap to help emerging research institutions reach