H. B. 3042
(By Delegates Frich, Sobonya and Howard)
[Introduced March 15, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-1A-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to clarifying the Legislature's
goals with respect to financing higher education.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18B-1A-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1A. COMPACT WITH HIGHER EDUCATION FOR THE FUTURE OF WEST
VIRGINIA.
§18B-1A-4. Legislative financing goals.
(a) The Legislature recognizes that the higher education goals
set forth in section one-a, article one of this chapter are of
utmost importance. The Legislature further recognizes that meeting
the goals may require the appropriation of funds above the current
operating budgets of the institutions.
(b)
It is Therefore,
the desire of the Legislature
to shall increase funding annually for higher education at a rate not less
than the annual percentage increase in the overall general revenue
budget.
(c) If the Commission or Council, or both, determines that
appropriations are insufficient to fund the requirements of the
institutional compacts under its jurisdiction, the Commission or
Council first shall consider extending the length of the compacts
or otherwise modifying the compacts to allow the institutions to
achieve the benchmarks in the compacts. If modifications to the
institutional compacts are not sufficient to allow the institutions
to meet their benchmarks, the Commission or Council, or both, shall
recommend to the Legislature methods of making the higher education
system more efficient. The methods may include, but are not
limited to, the following:
(1) Administrative efficiencies;
(2) Consolidation of services;
(3) Elimination of programs;
(4) Consolidating institutions; and
(5) Closing institutions.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify the
Legislature's goals with respect to financing higher education.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.