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EOU Board of Trustees Tim Seydel, VP University Advancement 2017 Joint Legislative Agenda Brief January 10, 2017

The Legislative Advisory Council (LAC), working with the Oregon Council of Presidents (OCOP), has developed a common legislative agenda 2017 session that includes components on the operating budget, capital construction, research, academic policy, and campus safety. Please note this is a snapshot of current legislative issues that will change following the release of the cochair’s budget and as different bills are introduced.

Academics Applied Baccalaureates The HECC will not introduce a Legislative Concept on this topic for the 2017 Session although we anticipate that a legislator will. The HECC will receive the report that it solicited on this topic in midJanuary. LAC members continue to work to inform legislators, HECC members, and the Governor’s office about the purpose of AB degrees, types of students served, actions that would increase enrollment and success of students in AB programs, and the willingness of universities to fill any market gaps. Textbook Affordability During the 2015 session the legislature passed HB 2871 which provided $700K for the biennium to fund open education resources, also known as “free textbooks” for public universities and community colleges. Funding for continuation of the program is not in the HECC agency budget request for 2017-19. Legislators continue to support this effort because of the clear real and potential benefits it provides to students, and the opportunities it has for improving articulation between community colleges and universities through common course materials. A draft bill has been developed to continue to the program in the 2017-19 biennium. The specifics – including HECC’s role in implementing the program – are yet to be determined. Oregon Promise The Governor’s Recommended Budget funded the Oregon Promise at $39.7M to extend the program with two new cohorts for the 2017-19 biennium. There is still general agreement amongst the public universities, community colleges and the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) that the program should not expand beyond its current size and that state investment priorities should focus on the Oregon Opportunity Grant (OOG) because it serves students with the highest financial need. The Provosts’ work group will continue to review the program data and work with HECC staff to conduct additional analysis as necessary. Student Services Additional Services for Veteran Students Working with legislators, we have developed a bill that will revise legislation passed during the 2015 session that created a priority registration process for veterans at community colleges and the 4-year universities. The goal of the revision is to accommodate differences in the ways institutions classify their 1

students. The primary goal is to ensure that veteran students have access to the courses they need throughout their entire academic careers to make maximum use of available federal benefits. Operating Budget Current State Revenue Projection: Estimated shortfall of $1.3 - $1.5 billion. Oregon Public Universities: $100 million ask It costs relatively little money to keep the universities from making difficult choices between raising tuition above 5% or making cuts to the services and faculty that students depend on to graduate and prepare to enter the job market. For the past two decades, Oregon has disinvested in higher education, leading to record amounts of student debt and rising tuition costs for families. 2015-17 PUSF/Public Program/ETIC Investment: $700M ($665M for PUSF) 2017-19 Current Revenue Forecast/Potential University Ask: $800M ($765M for PUSF, others flat) The Governor’s Recommended Budget has “flat funded” the universities at the same level as the 201517 biennium: $667 million. This does not include increased roll-up costs such as PEBB and PERS. The universities are working jointly on budget scenarios around state funding increases or decreases. The cochairs of the joint legislative committee on Ways and Means is expected to release their version of the budget around Jan. 20. Sports Lottery The universities support a return to the statutory one-percent for Sports Lottery. The 12% for graduate scholarships provides a much-needed source for students seeking advanced degrees. Much of the 88% portion allocated for athletic programs takes the form of grants-in-aid to student athletes. Being engaged in intercollegiate athletics, while pursuing an academic degree, generally has a positive multiplier effect on students. Sports Lottery funding is also a primary way that campuses are able to meet Title IX requirements to equitably fund women’s athletics. Investment in student athletes also supports the overall goal of student diversity at every level: gender, geographic, ethnic, and economic background. Oregon Renewable Energy Center (OREC) OREC at Oregon Tech was created by the Legislature in 2001 to advance renewable energy solutions in Oregon, but has not received dedicated state funding as a state program. The universities support a dedicated funding line of $985,000 per biennium to achieve OREC’s mission and support student experiential learning and applied research. The HECC included a dedicated funding line for OREC as a Policy Option Package in their Agency Recommended Budget. Capital Construction The HECC met in November to consider the request from the University of Oregon for $100M XI-G bonds for the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. The Commission approved inclusion of this project on the Public University Prioritized Capital Construction Request and ranked it as #13 out of the 20 projects that were forwarded. Two projects associated with OSU-Cascades, one for $9M in XI-Q bonds for site reclamation and one for $11M in XI-Q bonds for campus infrastructure, were reordered from #15 and #16 respectively to #11 and #12 on the approved list.

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Research Postdoctoral scholar retirement benefits Policy Overview: Universities and labor are proposing a statutory amendment to exclude postdoctoral scholars from the employees eligible for PERS and ORP and define the terms of a “postdoc.” Institutions would independently pursue more cost effective alternatives to remain competitive in attracting postdoctoral scholars to their respective institutions. Establish a university “Fighting Fund” The research universities seek the establishment of a legislatively-created, renewable fund that would enable them to better compete at the national level for federal innovation funds. The universities are not able to point to a meaningful state commitment because of the lead-time needed to build funding into state budgets. Universities will seek an initial $20 million allocation in the 2017-19 biennium based on the 2013-15 biennium’s “plus beginning balance.” The $20 million (3.8% of the total from the 201315 biennium) would flow to the HECC to be available during the 2017-19 biennium to universities that succeed in competing for qualified federal research funding. If no university proposals are successful in obtaining federal funds, the fund balance would carry over to the next biennium. Campus Public Safety The Governor’s Campus Safety Work Group met from March to November 2016 to identify strategies to better support public safety and emergency management at Oregon’s postsecondary educational institutions (PSEI). The Work Group recommends a phased approach, with the following actions in Phase I: 1. Establish a Higher Education Safety and Resilience Council. 2. Appropriate $500,000 to support a three-year statewide training initiative to advance a number of the recommendations identified in this report. 3. Hire two FTE to manage the council and develop/implement a statewide training program. 4. Establish an online training/resource portal for Oregon PSEI to share promising practices and protocols in real time. 5. Amend ORS 238.082 SEC 5 to add PSEI to the exemption for hiring retired law-enforcement officers. 6. Develop a physical-security grant program to help PSEI pay for critical public safety infrastructure in existing buildings and campus infrastructure. The Work Group recommends Phase I have a three-year implementation timeframe and, following Phase 1, the newly established Council would report back to the Governor and Legislature on its activities and impact during the third year. Subsequent phases will build on the Phase 1 efforts. University Operations and Governance Out-of-state PERS employees Policy Overview: The public universities are still considering pursuing a statutory amendment during the 2017 session to resolve an error related to their out-of-state employees’ participation in the Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan. The bill would retroactively include compensation that is not taxable in Oregon for all employees hired between August 29, 2003 and December 31, 2017. Counsel is still collecting data on the effected employee populations and then we will build a legislative strategy. 3

Other Endangered Species Voters approved ballot Measure 100, the “Wildlife Trafficking Prevention Act,” in November 2016. The intent of the measure is to prohibit the sale or purchase of covered animal species, or parts or products from those species, by anyone in Oregon. Some universities, however, work regularly with the different types of animals specified by the proposed law. We have met with the Humane Society and are working through a possible technical fix that includes an exemption for public universities that use certain animals in research. We have a draft from legislative counsel and a representative to sponsor a bill.

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