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2009 Legislative Session Summary

Budget

The budget for UF was impacted by the Appropriations Committee Chairs’ negotiations. We estimated earlier that we would experience a $68 million cut to our base budget. Our cuts now total approximately $72 million. Tuition will generate more than $21 million in revenue, and we expect to receive $2.4 million additional lottery dollars. This makes the net reduction about $49 million.

The final budget also contains another $1.6 million for the operation and maintenance of new buildings and $5 million to the College of Medicine. Proviso language requires the development of a funding methodology for medical education. This would result in a formula to ensure equal state support for educating medical students at all state universities.

Senate and House conferees also approved $1.2 million for the Lastinger Center for Learning in UF’s College of Education. We were also able to restore $100,000 in funding for the College of Veterinary Medicine Racing Laboratory.

The legislature agreed to President Machen’s request to exempt university employees from a state employee salary cut of 2% for employees earning more than $45,000. Additionally, health insurance premiums will not increase for state employees.

A prohibition on the use of state funds in embryonic stem cell research and for travel to terrorist countries, which we opposed, failed.

Tobacco Tax

The UF Cancer Center is likely to benefit from revenues generated by the new tobacco tax. A total of $50 million was directed from the tobacco tax to the King and Bankhead Coley Biomedical Trust Funds for cancer research. This will benefit all the cancer research centers in the state including the UF Cancer Center. Also, from the tobacco tax via Bankhead/Coley/Cancer Research Fund, $500,000 is provided to maintain the statewide Brain Tumor Registry Program at the McKnight Brain Institute. The remainder of the new tobacco tax went into General Revenue.

Tuition

The Legislature approved a bill to allow the Boards of Trustees of all 11 of Florida’s public universities to establish a Differential Undergraduate Tuition Fee. That fee is in addition to the tuition increase set by the legislature. Added together, the base tuition and differential tuition may increase up to 15 % per year until they reach the national average. Thirty percent of the differential fee, or an equivalent amount from private sources, will be allocated to need-based aid.

The Legislature also increased, to 15%, the cap on the amount we can increase graduate tuition annually.

PECO

UF received $11.8 million in PECO funds. Of that amount, $7.8 million will be used for infrastructure and repair/maintenance. The remaining $4 million will go toward energy efficiency improvements.

Graduate Students

The conforming bill also includes provisions on the determination of residency status for tuition purposes. Specifically, the bill requires students to live in the State of Florida for one year prior to initial enrollment in order to be eligible for in-state tuition. While we supported this proposal for undergraduate students, we requested an exemption for graduate students, and the Legislature agreed. Most of our graduate students are from out of state. Requiring graduate students to pay out-of-state tuition rates would make UF less attractive to students who teach classes and conduct research that helps drive Florida’s economic development. The legislation allows the Boards of Trustees to establish a differential out-of-state fee for graduate teaching/research assistants/associates and fellows. That differential out-of-state fee can be set at zero.

Courtelis Facilities Matching Funds

There were no funds available this year for matching private contributions for facilities. However, the conforming bill maintains the eligibility of buildings for Courtelis matching funds if a university proceeds with construction before the state provides the matching funds. In addition, state operation and maintenance funds may be requested by the universities in the event the facility is completed prior to the appropriation of the state match.

Indirect Costs for Contracts and Grants

The conforming bill prohibits universities from charging indirect costs for contracts and grants conducted for the Division of Public Schools in the Florida Department of Education. Usually, universities charge a percentage of the research grant to cover overhead expenses. The state university system lobbyists lobbied against this bill but were unsuccessful.

Columbaria

Universities will be allowed to construct a columbaria on campus for the inurnment of remains under legislation passed in the final week of session.

Police Jurisdiction

Current law is unclear about the jurisdiction of University Police Departments on streets adjacent to campuses and, as a result, a number of cases have been thrown out of court. The legislature agreed to our request for legislation clarifying that jurisdiction for university police to perform their duties is 1,000 feet from campus or as specified in mutual aid agreements.