LAST WEEK IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Representative Murrell Smith, Jr. (R-Sumter) was unanimously elected by the House of Representatives to serve as the next Speaker of the House. His term will begin at 5:01 pm on May 12. Speaker-elect Smith succeeds Speaker Jay Lucas (R-Darlington) who is not seeking re-election.
There are 6 days remaining in this legislative session. By law, the General Assembly must adjourn sine die at 5 o’clock on Thursday, May 12 but may return to finish work on the budget or other items agreed upon by both bodies. Since this is the second year of a two-year session, bills that did not pass this session will die at the close of the session.
BUDGET
The Senate completed its work on the state budget on Thursday, April 28. Below is a summary of items impacting Clemson University and Clemson PSA:
Clemson E&G
– $6.077 million in recurring funding for tuition mitigation* (House funded $9.9 million recurring)
*In order to retain the above appropriations, each institution of higher learning listed above must certify to the Commission on Higher Education by August 15, 2022, there is no in state undergraduate tuition or in state undergraduate mandatory fee increase, excluding increases in auxiliary fees, for the 2022 2023 academic year.
– $35 million in nonrecurring funding for maintenance, renovation and replacement (House funded $32.5 million recurring)
Clemson PSA
– $2 million in recurring funding for Rural Health Cooperative Extension and Research (same funding in House version)
– $750,000 in recurring funding for Laboratory Services Support (same funding in House version)
– $750,000 in recurring funding for Integrated Agriculture Technology (House funded $500,000 recurring)
– $2 million in nonrecurring funding for Critical PSA Infrastructure (House funded $3.6 million nonrecurring)
– $4 million in nonrecurring funding for Edisto Research and Education Center Research Infrastructure Upgrades and Expansion (House funded $7 million nonrecurring)
– $1.375 million in nonrecurring funding for Poultry Science Research Facility (priority not funded in House version)
The current budget also includes several items of interest from the Executive Budget:
– $70 million in recurring lottery dollars for need based grants at the Commission on Higher Education (House funded $60 million). This would represent approximately $5.83 million in additional need based grant opportunities for Clemson students.
– $20 million in recurring tuition grants at the Higher Education Tuition Grants Commission (same funding in House version). These dollars are beneficial to students attending private higher education institutions.
– $4.1 million in recurring lottery dollars for students with intellectual disabilities attending college transition programs (same funding in House version). This represents additional funding for ClemsonLIFE.
– $10 million in recurring lottery dollars for the Clemson University College of Veterinary Medicine (funding not included in House version).
The budget includes a 3% pay increase for classified and unclassified employees, but does not include a one-time bonus of $1500 for state employees. The proviso directing the authorization of these funds provides flexibility to higher education institutions to reward the pay raise based on merit for unclassified employees.
The budget also includes an increase in the cost of health insurance and an increase in retirement contributions for state employees and employers. The employee portion of both will be paid by the state. The employer portion of both will have to be covered partially by the university.
From a state budgeting standpoint, Clemson is considered two separate state agencies: a research university that receives an educational and general (E&G) state appropriation for teaching and student support, and a land-grant Public Service and Agriculture (PSA) division that receives a state appropriation to support agriculture, forestry and natural resource Extension, research and regulatory programs.
The university also has auxiliary operations, such as athletics, student housing and dining services, which receive no state funding and must generate all of their own revenue.
BILLS OF INTEREST
The Clemson University Governmental Affairs office is monitoring several bills that have potential impact on Clemson. A complete listing of these bills may be found here. Click on the bill number for a description of the legislation, along with the bill’s current status.
NEWS AND FYI
Please follow CU at the Capitol on Twitter. Current news coverage of interest may be found here.