78R7122 KSD-D
By: Hamric H.B. No. 3526
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of the research development fund to
promote research at certain institutions of higher education and to
the abolition of the Texas excellence fund and the university
research fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Chapter 62, Education Code, is
amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 62. DIVISION OF CONSTITUTIONALLY APPROPRIATED FUNDS AMONG
CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION; RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT
FUND
SECTION 2. Chapter 62, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter E to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER E. RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT FUND
Sec. 62.091. PURPOSE. The research development fund is
established to provide funding to promote increased research
capacity at eligible general academic teaching institutions.
Sec. 62.092. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
(2) "Eligible institution" means a general academic
teaching institution, as defined by Section 61.003, other than The
University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, or Prairie
View A&M University.
Sec. 62.093. ADMINISTRATION. (a) The research development
fund is a fund outside the state treasury in the custody of the
comptroller.
(b) The comptroller shall administer and invest the
research development fund.
Sec. 62.094. FUNDING. (a) The research development fund
consists of the amount deposited to the credit of the fund under
Section 62.025 in each state fiscal year, the amount appropriated
or transferred to the credit of the fund by the legislature under
Subsection (b), and any other amounts transferred to the fund under
this section.
(b) In each state fiscal year, the legislature may
appropriate or provide for the transfer to the credit of the
research development fund of an amount not less than the amount
deposited to the credit of the fund under Section 62.025 in that
fiscal year.
(c) The comptroller shall deposit all interest, dividends,
and other income earned from investment of the research development
fund to the credit of the fund.
(d) The comptroller may accept gifts or grants from any
public or private source for the research development fund.
Sec. 62.095. APPORTIONMENT OF FUND TO ELIGIBLE
INSTITUTIONS. (a) In each state fiscal year, the comptroller shall
distribute the total amount of all assets in the research
development fund to eligible institutions. The amount shall be
apportioned among the eligible institutions based on the average
amount of restricted research funds expended by each institution
per year for the three preceding state fiscal years.
(b) For purposes of Subsection (a), the amount of restricted
research funds expended by an institution in a fiscal year is the
amount of those funds as reported to the coordinating board by the
institution for that fiscal year, subject to any adjustment by the
coordinating board in accordance with the standards and accounting
methods the coordinating board prescribes under Section 62.096.
Sec. 62.0951. APPORTIONMENT OF FUND IN 2006–2007 FISCAL
BIENNIUM. (a) This section applies to the apportionment of the
research development fund in each state fiscal year of the state
fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2007.
(b) In a state fiscal year to which this section applies, if
under the apportionment method prescribed by Section 62.095 an
eligible institution that received money from the university
research fund in the state fiscal year ending August 31, 2005, would
be entitled to receive from the research development fund an amount
that is less that 50 percent of the amount distributed to the
institution from the university research fund in the state fiscal
year ending August 31, 2005, the comptroller shall increase the
amount apportioned to that institution from the research
development fund to an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount
distributed to the institution from the university research fund in
the state fiscal year ending August 31, 2005.
(c) After apportioning the amount prescribed by Subsection
(b) to each eligible institution to which Subsection (b) applies,
the comptroller shall apportion the remaining amount to be
distributed from the research development fund in that fiscal year
to the remaining eligible institutions in proportion to the amounts
the institutions would be entitled to receive in that fiscal year
under the apportionment method prescribed by Section 62.095.
(d) This section expires January 1, 2008.
Sec. 62.096. VERIFICATION OF ALLOCATION FACTORS. (a) For
purposes of this subchapter, the coordinating board shall prescribe
standards and accounting methods for determining the amount of
restricted research funds expended by an eligible institution in a
state fiscal year.
(b) The coordinating board, as soon as practicable in each
state fiscal year, shall provide the comptroller with verified
information relating to the amounts of restricted research funds
expended by eligible institutions as necessary to determine the
apportionment of the research development fund under this
subchapter for that fiscal year.
(c) The coordinating board may audit the appropriate
records of an eligible institution to verify information for
purposes of this subchapter.
Sec. 62.097. USE OF ALLOCATED AMOUNTS. (a) An eligible
institution may use money received from the research development
fund only for the support and maintenance of educational and
general activities, including research and student services, that
promote increased research capacity at the institution.
(b) Money received by an institution from the research
development fund in a fiscal year that is not used by the
institution in that fiscal year may be held and used by the
institution in subsequent fiscal years.
Sec. 62.098. ANNUAL REPORT. (a) Each eligible institution
that receives money under this subchapter in a state fiscal year
shall prepare a report at the end of that fiscal year describing the
manner in which the institution used the money. The institution
shall include in the report information regarding the use of money
spent in that fiscal year that was received under this subchapter in
a preceding fiscal year.
(b) The institution shall deliver a copy of the report to
the coordinating board and the Legislative Budget Board not later
than December 1 after the end of the fiscal year. The Legislative
Budget Board may establish requirements for the form and content of
the report.
(c) The institution shall include in the report information
on the use or other disposition of money the institution previously
received from the Texas excellence fund or the university research
fund, if the institution spent money from either of those funds in
the fiscal year of the report.
SECTION 3. Sections 62.025(a), (c), and (e), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Not later than November 1 of each state fiscal year, the
comptroller shall deposit the first $50 million that comes to the
state at the beginning of each state fiscal year and that is not
dedicated by other law as follows:
(1) except as provided by Subsection [Subsections (d)
and] (e), an amount equal to the portion of the total return on all
investment assets of the higher education fund in the preceding
state fiscal year computed by multiplying that total return by the
percentage of the total return on all investment assets of the
permanent fund for tobacco education and enforcement that
constitutes available earnings as determined by the comptroller
under Section 403.1068, Government Code, in that year must be
deposited to the credit of the research development [Texas
excellence] fund established under Subchapter E [C]; and
(2) the remaining amount must be deposited to the
credit of the higher education fund.
(c) The deposit required by this section to the higher
education fund expires on September 1 after the date the
comptroller certifies that the value of the higher education fund
is $2 billion. In each state fiscal year that begins on or after
that date, the comptroller shall deposit to the credit of the
research development [Texas excellence] fund established under
Subchapter E [C] from the first money that comes to the state at the
beginning of that fiscal year an amount, not to exceed $50 million,
equal to the portion of the total return on all investment assets of
the higher education fund in the preceding state fiscal year
computed by multiplying that total return by the percentage of the
total return on all investment assets of the permanent fund for
tobacco education and enforcement that constitutes available
earnings as determined by the comptroller under Section 403.1068,
Government Code.
(e) An amount may not be deposited to the research
development [Texas excellence] fund under this section if
Subchapter E [C] expires or is repealed or if the research
development [Texas excellence] fund is abolished.
SECTION 4. The following laws are repealed:
(1) Section 62.025(d), Education Code;
(2) Subchapter C, Chapter 62, Education Code; and
(3) Subchapter D, Chapter 62, Education Code.
SECTION 5. (a) The first distribution of money from the
research development fund established by this Act shall be made in
the state fiscal year beginning September 1, 2005.
(b) On and after the effective date of this Act, any amount
remaining in or payable to the credit of the Texas excellence fund
or the university research fund shall be transferred to the credit
of the research development fund established by this Act.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.