With the closing of the 2012 legislative session, The Daily Reveille took a look at the happenings in the Capitol that concern University students.
HB 1, a bill by Representative James R. Fannin, proposes the State Budget of Louisiana, effective July 1. After bouncing between the House and the Senate, the total budget would be around $25.5 billion. This bill has been sent to the governor.
HB 166, a bill by Representative Walt Leger III, would make school coaches “mandatory reporters” of child abuse. This bill has also been sent to the Governor.
HR 111, a resolution by Representative Troy Brown, urges the University Board of Supervisors to give incoming full-time freshmen priority in acquiring football tickets for games in Tiger Stadium, beginning in the 2013 to 2014 academic year. In addition, no freshman would be denied the opportunity to purchase a ticket because of lack of seating. This resolution has been filed with the Secretary of State.
HB 275, a bill by Representative John Schroder, would authorize public post-secondary education management boards to increase tuition and mandatory fee amounts as prescribed by the Tuition and Financial Aid Policy, established and implemented by that university’s Board of Regents and approved by the legislature. Summer and intersession tuition could be increased proportionately to regular semester increases. This means the University Board of Supervisors can increase tuition and mandatory fees if the increase is allowed by the Board of Regents rule and approved by a two-thirds vote in the legislature. This bill has been assigned to the House Education Committee.
HB 735, a bill by Representatives Franklin Foil and Dalton Honoroe, says proceeds from new riverboat casinos would go to the newly-created East Baton Rouge Higher Education Improvement Fund. Forty percent of the fund would go to the LSU Foundation, while 40 percent would go to the Southern University System Foundation and 20 percent would go to the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation. This bill has been assigned to House appropriations.
HB 756, a bill by Representative Neil Abramson, would add specific materials of higher education boards and institutions to a list of exclusions from public records under the Public Records Law. The following materials could not be accessed unless required by state or federal statue or court rule: materials or records that have previously been the subject of a denied discovery request, test questions, scoring keys and other exam data and teaching materials used by faculty but unavailable to students, like lecture notes, outlines, slides, syllabi or recordings. This bill has been signed by the senate president.
HB 927, a bill by Representative Joe Harrison, would add Louisiana Tech University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of New Orleans to the Louisiana State University System and add Southern University, Southern University at New Orleans and Southern University at Shreveport to the University of Louisiana System. This bill would remove these universities from prior school systems. This bill has been assigned to House education.
HB 1215, a bill by Representative Thomas Carmody, says higher education management boards couldn’t claim non-state assets held by any nonprofit organization that supports the university, unless allowed by that nonprofit organization. This means a university couldn’t claim its owns assets, including funds, from a nonprofit organization set up to support that university unless the organization allowed it. This bill is pending House final passage.
SB 458, a bill by Senator Eric LaFleur, says universities would no longer need to be accredited by the Regional Accrediting Association for eligibility to accept Student Tuition Assistance and Revenue Trust funds. This bill has been sent to the governor.
SCR 7, a resolution by Senators Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb and Sharon Weston Broome and Representative Patricia Haynes Smith, would congratulate the LSU Tigers football team on an outstanding season. This resolution has been filed with the Secretary of State. SCR 128, a resolution by Senators Jack Donahue and John Alario, would make available $204.7 million from the Budget Stabilization Fund because of a revenue forecast reduction for the current fiscal year. This means the severity of budget cuts affecting the University due to this year’s budget would be lessened. This resolution has been signed by the Speaker of the House.
 
_____ Contact Taylor Balkom at [email protected]