71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .
 
LC 3314
 
                         House Bill 3803
 
Sponsored by Representative MORRISETTE; Representative LEONARD
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Establishes Quality Higher Education Commission. Specifies
membership and duties of commission.
  Sunsets commission on June 30, 2003.
  Declares emergency, effective July 1, 2001.
 
                        A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to quality higher education; appropriating money; and
  declaring an emergency.
  Whereas the people of Oregon have invested significant public
resources in the public universities of Oregon over the past 125
years in order to provide financially affordable access to higher
education for all citizens; and
  Whereas 70 years ago the Oregon Legislature created the Oregon
university system, under the governance of the State Board of
Higher Education, to provide better-coordinated program and
degree offerings across the regions of the state; and
  Whereas the public university system provides valuable
opportunities for citizens of Oregon to achieve their educational
goals, conferring more than 14,000 degrees each academic year;
and
  Whereas these graduates contribute to the economic, civic and
social progress of Oregon as knowledgeable and critical thinkers
in the workplace and as entrepreneurs, as aware and educated
citizens, and as stable members and leaders of our communities;
and
  Whereas the faculty who teach these students also create new
knowledge through research in their fields and through more than
$175 million in sponsored research each year, providing valuable
discoveries for use by Oregon's natural resource, materials and
high technology industries, and also provide thousands of hours
of service to Oregon each year in projects utilizing their
academic expertise; and
  Whereas the level of state support for this critically
important public enterprise has been slipping for decades,
thereby undermining the potential for additional contributions by
Oregon's public universities to Oregon's future success; and
  Whereas this continued reduction in state support has been
paralleled by a rising demand for access and the need for greater
numbers of proficient members of the knowledge economy, in which
the acquisition, integration and use of intellectual products and
property represents the engine of the 21st century economy; and
  Whereas the decline in state support for the public university
system has been matched by a decline in the value of state
student financial aid, combining to shift the majority of the
expense for a public university education to students and their
families, creating tuition price levels and student loan burdens
equal to or greater than those in most other states; and
  Whereas continuing these trends of high access costs, low state
support, below average faculty compensation and nearly
nonexistent facilities maintenance support will defeat the
aspirations of Oregon citizens for educational achievement and
defeat the economic and civic goals of Oregon leaders; and
  Whereas an Oregon Quality Higher Education Commission should be
organized to determine the appropriate levels of state support
for students attending state institutions of higher education, in
the context of public support for similar universities in the
United States of America; and
  Whereas the commission shall report its findings to the
Governor and the Legislative Assembly, so that they may
appropriately budget public funds to meet and maintain the level
of support needed to achieve quality public higher education for
Oregon citizens; now, therefore,
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
  SECTION 1.  { + (1) There is established a Quality Higher
Education Commission consisting of 15 members as follows:
  (a) Five members representing business, civic or cultural
interests, appointed by the Governor;
  (b) Four members of the Legislative Assembly, with the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, the
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and the Minority
Leader of the Senate each appointing one member;
  (c) Two members of the State Board of Higher Education,
appointed by the president of the State Board of Higher
Education;
  (d) One member who is a student attending a state institution
of higher education, appointed by the president of the State
Board of Higher Education;
  (e) The Chancellor of the State System of Higher Education, who
shall serve as a nonvoting member; and
  (f) Two presidents of state institutions of higher education,
who shall serve as nonvoting members appointed by the chancellor.
  (2) The term of office of each member is two years, but a
member serves at the pleasure of the appointing authority. If
there is a vacancy for any cause, the appointing authority shall
make an appointment to become immediately effective for the
remainder of the unexpired term.
  (3) A member of the commission is entitled to compensation and
expenses as provided in ORS 292.495.
  (4) The Education and Workforce Policy Advisor, the Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the State System of Higher
Education and the president of the state system
interinstitutional faculty senate shall assist the commission in
discharging the duties of the commission. + }
  SECTION 2.  { + (1) The Quality Higher Education Commission
shall select one of the members of the commission as chairperson
and another as vice chairperson, for such terms and with duties
and powers necessary for the performance of the functions of
those offices as the commission determines.
  (2) A majority of the members of the commission constitutes a
quorum for the transaction of business.
  (3) The commission shall meet at times and places specified by
the call of the chairperson. Meetings of the commission may be
held throughout Oregon.
  (4) The commission may hire an executive director and other
staff.
  (5) The executive director shall prepare a commission budget
for approval by the commission.
  (6) The staff of the commission shall be located in Urban
Center at Portland State University. + }
  SECTION 3.  { + (1) The Quality Higher Education Commission
shall:
  (a) Compile a history of state support for public university
education in Oregon during the past 50 years, including state
student financial aid, as a historical benchmark for the
recommendations of the commission for future support.
  (b) Examine the range of state support for public university
education in the United States by discipline and degree level,
including but not limited to the national, regional and state
system data used in constructing the State System of Higher
Education Resource Allocation Model implemented in the 1999-2001
biennium.
  (c) Compile recommended peer sets from the national, regional
and state system data for each state institution of higher
education. The peer sets shall be a composite drawn from public
institutions with comparable levels of state support for
students, and aspirational peers, representing the discipline and
program quality improvements sought for each of the campuses, in
order to arrive at peer averages for each state institution. The
sum of the peer averages shall place the whole state system at or
above the midpoint for the aggregate peer sets.
  (2)(a) The commission shall recommend to the Governor and the
Legislative Assembly a foundation level of state support for
students attending state institutions of higher education for the
2003-2005 biennium based upon the peer data. The goal of the
funding recommendations derived from the peer data should be to
provide realistic improvement goals for each of the state
institutions, and the state system overall, measured against the
historical benchmarks of state support and student financial aid.
  (b) In making the recommendations, the commission shall also
provide four-year and six-year funding targets, in order to
project the level of resources needed in future biennia to
sustain quality improvements over time.
  (c) In developing the recommendations, the commission may also
examine:
  (A) The work of the state system in achieving its goals for
access for Oregonians to state institutions, maintenance of
program quality for admitted students, cost-effective business
practices and employable graduates, as aids to refining the
commission's funding level recommendations; and
  (B) The performance assessment and performance target-setting
processes the state system has constructed to benchmark campus
achievement, as a means of assisting the commission in developing
improvement goals for the four-year and six-year periods. + }
  SECTION 4.  { + (1) On June 30, 2003, the responsibility for
maintaining and updating the work products of the Quality Higher
Education Commission is transferred to the State Board of Higher
Education.
  (2) Prior to June 30, 2003, the chairperson of the Quality
Higher Education Commission shall deliver to the State Board of
Higher Education all records and property within the jurisdiction
of the commission. The State Board of Higher Education shall take
possession of such records and property. + }
  SECTION 5.  { + There is appropriated to the Quality Higher
Education Commission, for the biennium beginning July 1, 2001,
out of the General Fund, the amount of $___ for the
administration of sections 1 to 3 of this 2001 Act. + }
  SECTION 6.  { + Sections 1 to 3 of this 2001 Act are repealed
on June 30, 2003. + }
  SECTION 7.  { + This 2001 Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency
is declared to exist, and this 2001 Act takes effect July 1,
2001. + }
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