News

WKU government relations staff spent much of the last week working with legislators to secure passage of legislation of interest, including SB147 regarding advanced practice doctorates at the comprehensive universities and SB153, performance funding for public universities.

SB147 passed out of the House of Representatives March 7.  Once the bill is signed by the Speaker of the House, it will go to the Governor for his signature.  You can read the full bill here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB147/bill.pdf

To recap, SB147 relates to the advanced practice doctoral programs at Kentucky’s comprehensive universities.  Currently, the number of advanced practice doctorate degrees offered at the comprehensive universities is capped.  SB147 would remove that cap and leave determination of degree programs to CPE, consistent with its responsibility for approval of all other academic programs.  WKU was instrumental in achieving passage of the original legislation in 2011 that allowed the University to proceed with offering the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.  We believe it is in the best interest of Kentucky to allow market demands to drive degree program options, and therefore we support removal of the limit based solely on a specific number of degree programs.

Dr. Gary A. Ransdell testified before the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee with Senator David Givens and CPE President, Dr. Bob King in support of SB153.

SB153, which would implement a performance funding model for public universities, passed the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee on March 7 and received two readings in the House of Representatives last week.  The bill is posted for passage in the House Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 14.   

SB153 closely follows the recommendations for a performance funding model for public universities that was developed by the Performance Funding Work Group, which was chaired by WKU President Gary Ransdell.  Information on the performance funding proposal can be found on the WKU Government and Community Relations homepage.  You can read SB153 here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB153/bill.pdf

SB107 passed out of the House State Government Committee on March 6.  The bill received two readings in the House of Representatives last week and is posted for passage in the House Regular Orders of the Day for March 14.

To recap, SB107 pertains to gubernatorial appointments to public postsecondary institution governing boards.  SB107 would permit the Governor to remove and replace previously appointed board members to ensure compliance with statutory proportional representation requirements, including political party affiliation and race.  SB107 also permits the Governor to remove and replace entire boards if it is demonstrated that a board is unable to perform its statutory duties.  The public universities and the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) have provided input on this bill, and CPE provided a consensus letter to Senate Leadership with suggestions to improve the processes included in the bill.  You can read the full Senate Committee Substitute for SB107 here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB107/SCS1.pdf.

SB17 passed the House of Representatives on March 6 and was delivered to the Governor for his signature.  To recap, SB17 seeks to ensure that students are permitted to express religious or political viewpoints in their assignments and that First Amendment speech rights are protected on campus.  You can read the full bill here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB17/SCS1.pdf 

For updates on all the legislation we are tracking on behalf of WKU, click here:

http://www.wku.edu/govrelations/documents/3-13-ltr.pdf

Continue following regular updates from the 2017 legislative session at www.wku.edu/govrelations.