Senate Bill 2047

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE FUNDING ALLOCATION MODEL EMPLOYED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING MUST WEIGHT NONRESIDENT COMPLETED CREDIT HOURS BASED ON THE PERCENTAGE OF NONRESIDENT ENROLLMENT AT EACH INSTITUTION; TO ESTABLISH APPROPRIATE WEIGHTING FOR NONRESIDENT CREDIT HOUR COMPLETION; TO PROVIDE THAT THE DIFFERENCE IN FUNDS BETWEEN THE BOARD'S 2013 PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION MODEL AND THE FUNDING ALLOCATION MODEL WITH APPROPRIATE WEIGHTING SHALL BE SET ASIDE TO FUND GRANT AWARDS UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION LEGISLATIVE PLAN GRANT PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-101-15 AND 37-106-12, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. It is the intention of the Legislature that the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall employ a Performance Allocation Model that distributes funds to the state-supported institutions of higher learning based on the weighting for nonresident completed credit hour production as prescribed in Section 2 of this act. None of the funds appropriated by the Legislature for the general support and maintenance of institutions of higher learning shall be expended if the board adopts an allocation formula that does not include a provision that weights credit hours completed by nonresident students based on the percentage of nonresident enrollment at each institution.

SECTION 2. (1) Effective with fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall determine and report the following information to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on or before August 1:

(a) The percentage of state appropriations each institution of higher learning would receive based on the board's 2013 Performance Allocation Model. In determining the completed credit hour production portion of the model, each credit hour completed by students who are Mississippi residents shall count as one hundred percent (100%) of one (1) credit hour. Credit hours completed by nonresident students shall count as eighty-five percent (85%) of one (1) credit hour;

(b) The percentage of nonresident students enrolled in each institution in the academic year immediately preceding the fiscal year for which funds are being appropriated; and

(c) The percentage of state appropriations each institution would receive based on the 2013 Performance Allocation Model with modifications as described in this paragraph. In determining the completed credit hour production portion of the model, each credit hour completed by students who are Mississippi residents shall count as one hundred percent (100%) of one (1) credit hour. However, the calculation shall weight nonresident completed credit hour production based on each institution's nonresident enrollment as follows:

(i) Tier One. The maximum nonresident weighting shall be eighty-five percent (85%) for the first zero to ten percent (0-10%) of nonresident enrollment;

(ii) Tier Two. The maximum nonresident weighting shall be eighty percent (80%) for the next ten to twenty percent (10%-20%) of nonresident enrollment and for any remaining percentage of nonresident enrollment from Tier One;

(iii) Tier Three. The maximum nonresident weighting shall be seventy percent (70%) for the next twenty to thirty percent (20%-30%) of nonresident enrollment and for any remaining percentage of nonresident enrollment from Tier Two;

(iv) Tier Four. The maximum nonresident weighting shall be sixty percent (60%) for the next thirty to forty percent (30%-40%) of nonresident enrollment and for any remaining percentage of nonresident enrollment from Tier Three; and

(v) Tier Five. The maximum nonresident weighting shall be fifty percent (50%) for the remaining forty to one hundred percent (40%-100%) of nonresident enrollment.

(2) The general support appropriation for state-supported institutions of higher learning shall be reduced by the difference between subsection (1)(a) and (c) of this section, and this amount shall be set aside and placed into the Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Trust Fund as established in Section 37-106-12.

SECTION 3. Section 37-101-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-101-15. (a) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall succeed to and continue to exercise control of all records, books, papers, equipment, and supplies, and all lands, buildings, and other real and personal property belonging to or assigned to the use and benefit of the board of trustees formerly supervising and controlling the institutions of higher learning named in Section 37-101-1. Except as otherwise provided in Sections 1 and 2 of this act, the board shall have and exercise control of the use, distribution and disbursement of all funds, appropriations and taxes, now and hereafter in possession, levied and collected, received, or appropriated for the use, benefit, support, and maintenance or capital outlay expenditures of the institutions of higher learning, including the authorization of employees to sign vouchers for the disbursement of funds for the various institutions, except where otherwise specifically provided by law.

(b) The board shall have general supervision of the affairs of all the institutions of higher learning, including the departments and the schools thereof. The board shall have the power in its discretion to determine who shall be privileged to enter, to remain in, or to graduate therefrom. The board shall have general supervision of the conduct of libraries and laboratories, the care of dormitories, buildings, and grounds; the business methods and arrangement of accounts and records; the organization of the administrative plan of each institution; and all other matters incident to the proper functioning of the institutions. The board shall have the authority to establish minimum standards of achievement as a prerequisite for entrance into any of the institutions under its jurisdiction, which standards need not be uniform between the various institutions and which may be based upon such criteria as the board may establish.

(c) The board shall exercise all the powers and prerogatives conferred upon it under the laws establishing and providing for the operation of the several institutions herein specified. The board shall adopt such bylaws and regulations from time to time as it deems expedient for the proper supervision and control of the several institutions of higher learning, insofar as such bylaws and regulations are not repugnant to the Constitution and laws, and not inconsistent with the object for which these institutions were established. The board shall have power and authority to prescribe rules and regulations for policing the campuses and all buildings of the respective institutions, to authorize the arrest of all persons violating on any campus any criminal law of the state, and to have such law violators turned over to the civil authorities.

(d) For all institutions specified herein, the board shall provide a uniform system of recording and of accounting approved by the State Department of Audit. The board shall annually prepare, or cause to be prepared, a budget for each institution of higher learning for the succeeding year which must be prepared and in readiness for at least thirty (30) days before the convening of the regular session of the Legislature. The board shall annually prepare and submit a report as described in Section 2 of this act to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by August 1 of each year. All relationships and negotiations between the State Legislature and its various committees and the institutions named herein shall be carried on through the board of trustees. No official, employee or agent representing any of the separate institutions shall appear before the Legislature or any committee thereof except upon the written order of the board or upon the request of the Legislature or a committee thereof.

(e) For all institutions specified herein, the board shall prepare an annual report to the Legislature setting forth the disbursements of all monies appropriated to the respective institutions. Each report to the Legislature shall show how the money appropriated to the several institutions has been expended, beginning and ending with the fiscal years of the institutions, showing the name of each teacher, officer, and employee, and the salary paid each, and an itemized statement of each and every item of receipts and expenditures. Each report must be balanced, and must begin with the former balance. If any property belonging to the state or the institution is used for profit, the reports shall show the expense incurred in managing the property and the amount received therefrom. The reports shall also show a summary of the gross receipts and gross disbursements for each year and shall show the money on hand at the beginning of the fiscal period of the institution next preceding each session of the Legislature and the necessary amount of expense to be incurred from said date to January 1 following. The board shall keep the annual expenditures of each institution herein mentioned within the income derived from legislative appropriations and other sources, but in case of emergency arising from acts of providence, epidemics, fire or storm with the written approval of the Governor and by written consent of a majority of the senators and of the representatives it may exceed the income. The board shall require a surety bond in a surety company authorized to do business in this state, of every employee who is the custodian of funds belonging to one or more of the institutions mentioned herein, which bond shall be in a sum to be fixed by the board in an amount that will properly safeguard the said funds, the premium for which shall be paid out of the funds appropriated for said institutions.

(f) The board shall have the power and authority to elect the heads of the various institutions of higher learning and to contract with all deans, professors, and other members of the teaching staff, and all administrative employees of said institutions for a term of not exceeding four (4) years. The board shall have the power and authority to terminate any such contract at any time for malfeasance, inefficiency, or contumacious conduct, but never for political reasons. It shall be the policy of the board to permit the executive head of each institution to nominate for election by the board all subordinate employees of the institution over which he presides. It shall be the policy of the board to elect all officials for a definite tenure of service and to reelect during the period of satisfactory service. The board shall have the power to make any adjustments it thinks necessary between the various departments and schools of any institution or between the different institutions.

(g) The board shall keep complete minutes and records of all proceedings which shall be open for inspection by any citizen of the state.

(h) The board shall have the power to enter into an energy performance contract, energy services contract, on a shared-savings, lease or lease-purchase basis, for energy efficiency services and/or equipment as prescribed in Section 31-7-14.

(i) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, for and on behalf of Jackson State University, is hereby authorized to convey by donation or otherwise easements across portions of certain real estate located in the City of Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, for right-of-way required for the Metro Parkway Project.

(j) In connection with any international contract between the board or one (1) of the state's institutions of higher learning and any party outside of the United States, the board or institution that is the party to the international contract is hereby authorized and empowered to include in the contract a provision for the resolution by arbitration of any controversy between the parties to the contract relating to such contract or the failure or refusal to perform any part of the contract. Such provision shall be valid, enforceable and irrevocable without regard to the justiciable character of the controversy. Provided, however, that in the event either party to such contract initiates litigation against the other with respect to the contract, the arbitration provision shall be deemed waived unless asserted as a defense on or before the responding party is required to answer such litigation.

(k) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning ("board"), on behalf of any institution under its jurisdiction, shall purchase and maintain business property insurance and business personal property insurance on all university-owned buildings and/or contents as required by federal law and regulations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as is necessary for receiving public assistance or reimbursement for repair, reconstruction, replacement or other damage to those buildings and/or contents caused by the Hurricane Katrina Disaster of 2005 or subsequent disasters. The board is authorized to expend funds from any available source for the purpose of obtaining and maintaining that property insurance. The board is authorized to enter into agreements with the Department of Finance and Administration, local school districts, community/junior college districts, community hospitals and/or other state agencies to pool their liabilities to participate in a group business property and/or business personal property insurance program, subject to uniform rules and regulations as may be adopted by the Department of Finance and Administration.

(l) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, or its designee, may approve the payment or reimbursement of reasonable travel expenses incurred by candidates for open positions at the board's executive office or at any of the state institutions of higher learning, when the job candidate has incurred expenses in traveling to a job interview at the request of the board, the Commissioner of Higher Education or a state institution of higher learning administrator.

SECTION 4. Section 37-106-12, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-106-12. (1) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special trust fund to be known as the Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Trust Fund. The trust fund shall consist of all monies designated by the Legislature for deposit therein and any gift, donation, bequest, trust, grant, endowment, transfer of money or securities, or any other monies from any source whatsoever, designated for deposit in the trust fund.

(2) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, the principal of the trust fund shall remain inviolate and shall be invested by the State Treasurer in the same manner as provided by Section 27-105-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, for the investment of excess state funds. Interest and income derived from investment of the principal of the trust fund shall be appropriated by the Legislature for expenditure as provided in this chapter * * *.;

(b) Any amount set aside under Section 2(2) of this act shall be appropriated by the Legislature to supplement and prevent the need for reductions in the number of grant awards under the Higher Education Legislative Plan Grant Program as established in Section 37-106-75.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.