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House Bill 1427 |
House Author: Alonzo et al. |
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Effective: Vetoed |
Senate Sponsor: Zaffirini |
House Bill 1427 amends the Education Code to allow the University of Houston's college of optometry to operate an optometry career summer program for highly qualified, economically and academically disadvantaged junior-level, senior-level, and graduate students from any public or private college or university. The bill outlines program content that may be included but requires the college of optometry, to the extent practicable and consistent with the program's goals, to operate the program in a manner designed to help students earn course credit for the program from their respective colleges or universities. The bill establishes requirements for student recruitment and admission, program implementation, and the development of student support services.
Reason Given for Veto: "House Bill No. 1427 would authorize the University of Houston to create a summer learning program for the College of Optometry through funding identified as a special item. This program has existed since 1987 with federal funding. In 2002, the federal grant ended, leading the university to request additional state funding in order to sustain the program. I believe the university should solicit other funds, or use some of the $6.4 million it was appropriated for Institutional Enhancement, to fund this program identified as a priority.
"Higher education special item funding has ballooned out of control, increasing from $66.9 million in FY 1986-87 to more than $1 billion in FY 2008-09, an increase of 1,406 percent. I have several concerns about these items. First, many of them are advertised to the legislature as one-time requests, but funding of these projects - many of which have limited value to a school's educational mission - often continues indefinitely. Second, there is limited accountability for these funds, because institutions usually do not report on their performance. Third, many of them address local projects instead of statewide needs. Lastly, some of them are not priorities for the institutions; therefore, they don't request them. In fact, funding for this item was not requested in the University of Houston Legislative Appropriations Request."