82 nd Legislature

1. 82nd Legislature TASSCUBO July 25, 2011 Steve Collins Assoc. Vice Chancellor and Special Counsel UT System

2. Flexibility • No mandated hiring freezes, RIFs, or salary reductions • Longevity pay, leave accrual, holidays preserved • No mandated furloughs • SB 5

3. Procurement • Expanded best value purchasing--exemption from the purchasing requirements of all of Subtitle D, Title 10, Government Code (not including HUB requirements), including exemption from the consultants law • “Subtitle D, Title 10…and Subchapter B, Chapter 2254…do not apply to the acquisition of goods and services under” Section 51.9335, Education Code • Council on Competitive Government requirements (Ch. 2162) • Travel services (Ch. 2171) • Any provision required by law considered part of the contract without regard to whether the provision appears on the face of the contract • Authority to contract with local government on a cost recovery basis without a competitive process. • In acquiring a major information system, an institution needs to notify the Legislative Budget Board only if the value of the contract exceeds $1 million.

4. Financial Management • Authority to maintain a foreign depository • Authority to maintain an unclaimed money fund of abandoned credit balances of less than $25 • Authority to make any payment through electronic funds transfer or by electronic pay card • Exemption of revenue finance system debt from approval by the bond review board (AA- rating required) • Requires each institution to post its "checkbook" on the institution's Internet website • including for each payment from general revenue or from tuition and fees the amount, date, and purpose of the payment, in addition to the name of the payee. • an institution may instead provide an easily noticeable, direct link to similar information on the comptroller's website.

5. Public Information • Exemption for information that would tend to identify an applicant for chief executive officer of an institution • Confidential compliance information may be shared with persons supervising compliance, with systemwide compliance office, and with enforcement agencies • Exemption for information that would reveal plans or negotiations for commercialization or a proposed research agreement, contract, or grant.

6. Governance & Administration • No limits on contracts with the board of regents unless regent interest is “substantial,” such as the regent owning 10 percent or more of the voting stock • If interest is substantial and the contract is one that requires board approval, the regent must disclose that interest in open meeting and abstain from voting. • A student fee advisory committee established under Chapter 54, Education Code, must conduct any meeting at which a quorum is present in a manner that is open to the public in accordance with procedures prescribed by the president. • The procedures must provide for 72 hours notice of the date, hour, place, and subject of the meeting. The notice must be posted on the Internet and in the student newspaper, if an issue will be published between the date of notice and the date of the meeting. • SB 5 also requires that the final recommendations of a student fee advisory committee be recorded and made public.

7. Real Estate and Construction • Expedited process (staff-only review) for coordinating board approval of certain construction projects and real estate purchases • Exemption from the uniform general conditions that apply to state construction contracts generally • Exemption from leasing authority of the Texas Facilities Commission • Exemption from a report to the Texas Historical Commission on acquisition of older buildings • Exemption from attachment of a lien for deferred property taxes on remainder interest in property subject to a life estate unless the institution has consented to the deferral

8. Reports • SB 5 eliminates or modifies numerous reports and notices required by law of institutions of higher education: • institutions of higher education are exempted from the state agency annual report on employees, space, fees, etc. • energy conservation plans will be filed annually instead of quarterly • institutions of higher education are exempted from the annual report to the State Office of Risk Management. • Exempts institutions of higher education from the statewide property inventory system. Each institution must, however, accurately account for personal property, as defined by the comptroller, and designate one or more property managers.

9. Reports • SB 5 repeals the following reports effective September 1, 2011: • Crime statistics report, Section 51.216, Education Code • Class size reports under Section 51.403(b), (c), (d) Education Code • Timely graduation report under Section 51.4033, Education Code • Expert witness report under Section 61.0815, Education Code • Uniform recruitment and retention strategy report under Section 61.086, Education Code • Matching scholarship report under Section 61.087(c), Education Code • Report on Texas Fund for Geography Education under Section 61.9685, Education Code • Annual debt report to the attorney general under Section 2107.005, Government Code • Report on insurance policies to State Office of Risk Management under Section 412.042(c), Education Code.

10. Reports • In addition, SB 5 repeals 29 different specifically identified reports required by law, as well most reports required by agency rule or policy, effective September 1, 2013. • SB 1179 repeals numerous reports for state agencies and institutions of higher education, including, e.g.: • Sec. 552.274(b), Government Code—biennial report on state agency procedures for charging and collecting fees for providing copies of public information • Sec. 2112.005, Government Code--institutional report every four years to the Legislative Budget Board and the comptroller on audit of utility bills • Sec. 2171.101(d), Government Code--office of vehicle fleet management duty to review annually each agency's vehicle fleet and report to legislature • Sec. 2203.001, Government Code--daily report by state employees on use of a state-owned vehicle

11. Reports • The only inconsistency between the two bills appears to be the following Education Code provisions (SB 1179 will control regardless of the relative dates of enactment): • Sections 51.917(e), programs for faculty with limited English, which SB 1179 repeals 6/17/2011 • Section 86.52(m), funds report by TAMU Real Estate Center, which  SB 1179 repeals 6/17/2011 • Section 51.403(d), small class report, which SB 1179 repeals 6/17/2011 • Section 130.152, junior college programs for disadvantaged, which SB 1179 repeals 6/17/2011

12. Reports • HB 1781requires the executive director of each state agency, including institutions of higher education, to provide an electronic report by August 1, 2012, to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house, legislative committee chairs, the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission identifying which of the agency’s statutory reporting requirements are not necessary, are redundant, or are required at a frequency for which data is not available.

13. Other Stuff • SB 773 extends the telecommunications discount four years at 110% of costs • SB 701 requires each state agency, including institutions of higher education, to post on a generally accessible Internet website the agency’s high-value data sets if this can be done at no cost to the state • raw data in an open standard format that allows the public to search, extract, organize, and analyze the information in the data set. • SB 74 authorizes institutions of higher education to establish written procedures as an alternative means for the disposition of surplus or salvage property, including information systems hardware. • HB 51 allows the board of regents of institutions of higher education to adopt high-performance building standards applicable to most construction and renovation projects After September 1, 2013, all qualifying projects must be designed, constructed, or renovated to comply with high-performance building standards approved by an institution’s board of regents. 

14. Other Stuff • HB 736requires each general academic teaching institution to make available on the institution's Internet website a variety of information regarding the institution’s students and faculty, such as student-faculty ratio, the percentage of teaching faculty who are tenured or tenure-track, and the number of faculty members in each rank. HB 736 also changes the requirements for information provided in the institution’s online resume. • HB 1728 changes the definition of energy performance contracts to no longer require that all costs of the energy efficiency measures be paid for out of anticipated energy savings, allowing institutions of higher education to pay for energy savings performance contracts using other available money. • HB 2758 requires institutions of higher education to establish an emergency alert system for the institution’s students and staff, including faculty, using e-mail, telephone notification, and other alert methods.