Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Two bills could affect higher education

Two bills related to higher education that were approved by the Legislature with little fanfare could end up making waves for university system officials.

One provides for an audit of the Board of Regents and the university system's finances.

The other creates a committee to study how well the state's higher education system is working.

"I think it shows that the Legislature wants to see if we are doing the job that the public wants us to do," Chancellor Jane Nichols said. "There's going to be a lot of news about higher education coming from those two bills in the next few years."

The bill to audit the university system's finances was backed by Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson.

Assembly Bill 148 will audit capital construction projects, the cost of athletics programs, personal travel and expenses of administrators, contract bidding procedures and the validity and reliability of enrollment data, which drives the budget process.

The bill also calls for the university system to pick up the $100,000 tab for the audit.

"I don't think people realize that we are going to take that money out of money we use to teach," Regent Howard Rosenberg said. "We're not going to close a class anywhere, but it means belt-tightening somewhere where there is no place to tighten."

A committee to study higher education will come as a result of Assembly Bill 203. The governor-appointed committee will examine whether higher education programs are going in the right direction and identify high-priority needs.

The two bills have the potential to redistribute the way money in higher education is spent, cut the fat in existing programs and reshuffle the way the university system prioritizes issues.

"Here again, I think we could look upon this as a problem or an opportunity," Regent Steve Sisolak said. "I think we need to look at the study as a way to see what more we can do to provide economic diversification."

Other bills that carried the promise of a big impact on higher education did not make it out of this year's Legislature, which was scheduled to close last week but remains in special session.

A bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, would have caused all 13 regents to leave office in 2004 and run again for their seats on the board. It failed to make it out of the Legislature.

"Sometimes you don't win everything, but you cause them to think," Giunchigliani said.

The same bill would have stopped universities and colleges from profiting by selling students' names and addresses without permission, but that proposal was modified.

Now, students will receive a form asking whether they want information released for commercial purposes.

Another bill that would have given prisoners tuition waivers to attend college died in committee.

"It was disappointing to me because it's difficult for our inmates to find the money to go to school," said Marta Hall, academic programs administrator for the Nevada Corrections Department.

And a bill championed by Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas, that would have created four-year degrees at the Community College of Southern Nevada was removed from consideration in the middle of the session. Williams said the proposal would have helped minorities.

"I simply urged Assemblyman Williams to give us an opportunity to work together to provide a solution to have increased opportunities for bachelor's degrees at CCSN," said John Cummings, CCSN's counsel to the president and government liaison.

Higher education bills that were approved are expected to have a range of effects on the university system. Aside from the audit and higher education study, the legislators created the state's first crime statistics center and approved a plan that will make it easier for students to transfer community college credits to a Nevada university.

The key piece of legislation this session, still under debate, is the tax proposal. A portion of that, of course, involves funding for the state's universities and colleges.

"Most of the other bills that have come around (this session) have been secondary," Board of Regents Chairman Doug Seastrand said. "Everyone's thoughts are on whether they make this one of the biggest tax increases in Nevada's history."

So focused was the university system on getting the right level of funding, it paid a lobbyist $127,500 to work on its behalf.

The university system did get the money approved earlier in the session -- but now officials must wait, like everyone else, to see if the budget will be funded in the special session.

"I always hold my breath," Nichols said. "I will never rest easy until the legislation is passed and a tax package is on the table."

archive