UHCL to lobby at the Texas Legislature
The current Texas legislative session began Jan. 12 and will conclude May 31. During the session, Texas legislators focus on state issues including policies and budgets.
Many public universities take part in the legislative session by presenting issues regarding their campuses in hopes of obtaining state funding. Through the University of Houston System (UHS) Office of Governmental Relations, UHCL is one of the universities lobbying for state funds.
“As a representative for the entire [University of Houston] System, we have a Government Relations Office and they help facilitate those opportunities for us to speak to legislators,” said Mark Denney, vice president for administration and finance. “Plus we have our own relationships and connection opportunities through both our personal relationship with those legislators as well as our partnerships with various business organizations, public education organizations and other local government entities.”
The UHS 2021 Legislative Agenda includes downward expansion funding, funding appropriated to the university to support the increase of academic offerings for freshmen and sophomore students; Phase II of the STEM/Classroom Building; the restoration of 5% cuts to general revenue appropriations, or monetary losses that were a result of state budget reductions and university revenues because of COVID-19; and additional funds for community-based support programs as issues UHCL is prioritizing this session.
“Things like the formula funding that the Legislature puts forth, we want to protect that and, if possible, increase it. So that’s a big priority of ours,” said Joseph Staley, vice president for university advancement. “We had funding allocated to the university for downward expansion that has been cut since we did that and we’d like to see some of that restored so that we can continue to offer services and opportunities to students. Then we get down to more specific items, for instance, the centers and institutes here on the campus. In the past it’s been things like the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (CADD), Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH) and things like that, that we’d like to see continued funding for.”
In terms of funding for these lobbying efforts, Section 556.006 of the Government Code prohibits public agencies, like public universities, from using state funds to lobby the Legislature. This does not mean public universities cannot lobby, only that they cannot use state money to do so. Thus, some public universities use money from donors or have teams that inform lawmakers about specific problems involving institutions.
“The Government Relations team that is at the UHS, we all pay a small portion of that cost, but we are being most cost-effective by having one team serve all of the campuses within the UHS instead of each of us trying to stance that ourselves,” Denney said. “And then the rest of it is part of my duties as the vice president of administration and finance. It’s primarily a burden upon the President to be the voice of the university. She’s the one who makes many of those official contacts… When we have UHCL Days on the Legislature’s floor, we will take a group of students and alumni with us to demonstrate the face of how this funding the state gives us impacts people’s lives in a real and direct way.”
The UHS dedicates an entire day to visit the Capitol Building in Austin and present issues that pertain to the UHS. Denney mentioned that the cost of going to the Capitol includes things like transportation and lunch and is pretty minimal. He added that it is more of a cost of time and energy.
Staley mentioned that UHCL’s central messaging to the legislators will be about the impact these lobbying efforts will have on students. He added that they are looking to tell these stories during their meeting.
This year the UHCL’s Day at the Capitol is scheduled for Feb. 16, 2021. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be a virtual event.
