Office of Government Relations
Legislative Update - February 6, 2006

Legislature Convenes in Montgomery

The Alabama Legislature started the 2006 Regular Session on Tuesday, January 10th with talk of record revenues for the Education Trust Fund. It will be interesting to see how the House and the Senate decide to spend what could be $1 billion in new revenues.

Governor Bob Riley started the session with the annual State of the State address before an overflow crowd in the old House Chambers by promising record spending for education. The Governor outlined a plan to spend $500 million in a capitol improvement plan for public schools. This one-time money is to be used to make much needed repairs to Alabama’s public schools and universities. Under his proposal, TROY would receive $7.5 million.

The Governor’s budget provides a 13.64% increase over the previous appropriation for Troy University. This increase covers most of our requests, however we will continue to seek additional revenue. The Governor’s budget will start the process of moving through the Legislature next week.

The Governor’s Budget is based on the Alabama Commission on Higher Education’s (ACHE) recommendation. The ACHE recommendation provides a good scenario for TROY because it recommends covering mandated cost for Teacher Retirement System increases and retiree healthcare. It also provides a small equity adjustment for institutions like TROY where per student funding falls far below the state and regional standard.

This should prove to be an interesting session as most legislators want to pass the budgets as soon as possible so that they might return home to campaign before the June primaries. The session is schedule to end on April 24.