February 3, 2015
Legislative update Feb. 3
Last week in the Kansas Legislature, the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee continued to review and debate the governor's allotment proposal in hearings on House Bill 2133 and Senate Bill 81.
State Budget Director Shawn Sullivan testified before both of the budget writing committees and indicated a bill implementing the allotment recommendations must be passed by Feb. 6.
Several hearings on bills and issues pertaining to Kansas State University and higher education will be presented in House and Senate committees this week. On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the Senate Education Subcommittee will begin hearing the governor's budget recommendations for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 for higher education and higher education institutions. The first hearing is a presentation by Andy Tompkins, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents. The hearings in the Senate Education Subcommittee on higher education institutions will continue until Feb. 18. President Kirk Schulz will appear before the Senate Education Subcommittee on Feb. 12.
Also on Wednesday, Feb. 4, the House Taxation Committee will have a hearing on House Bill 2019. This bill expands the collection of dollars into the Educational Building Fund, or EBF. The fund is used to support building projects and deferred maintenance projects on university campuses.
The House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee will receive an update on the University Engineering Initiative Act from Kansas Board of Regents staff on Thursday, Feb. 5. The act provides support to Kansas State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University to expand the number of engineering students to support the industry in Kansas.
For information on these issues or to sign-up for bill tracking on bills impacting higher education and state government please send a request to kstategr@k-state.edu.