House files first higher-education budget offers; proposes $1 million for Row 59, cuts $900,000 from Row 110

At a conference meeting of the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, the House presented its first offers on the higher-education budget, provisos and back-of-bill items and proposed an increase that would bring Row 59 to $1 million and a $900,000 reduction on Row 110.

Representative Posada, speaking for the House, thanked the Senate and chair and described where negotiators can find the offers in the shared materials. “For budget, proviso, and back of the bill, you can find the offers in the far right columns of the various offer spreadsheets. As usual, we have shaded the rows where we now agree and have highlighted the row numbers where we are making an offer,” Posada said.

Posada detailed two line-item adjustments: “On Row 59, the project offer will we will offer an additional 900,000 to bring it to 1,000,000. On Row 110 of the budget offer, we offer a decrease of $900,000 Okay and that's it and I appreciate all your work.” Outside the quote, the House proposal would be an additional $900,000 to raise the Row 59 project offer to $1 million and a $900,000 reduction on Row 110.

The committee authorized staff to make technical changes to offer documents as the conference process continues, and members were told that all remaining open issues will “bump” after the meeting for further discussion between chambers. Representative Boussata moved to adjourn; the meeting was then closed.

The offers referenced by Posada appear in the committees’ shared offer spreadsheets; negotiators highlighted and shaded rows to indicate agreement and new offers. No votes or formal roll-call tallies on the budget offers were recorded in the meeting transcript. Further negotiations and any formal approvals will occur as the conference process continues.