TITLE 17. EDUCATION

 CHAPTER 24. BOARD OF REGENTS

 PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

17:3130  Other powers

A. All powers of management over public institutions of postsecondary education not specifically vested in the Board of Regents by Article VIII, Section 5 of the Constitution of Louisiana, are reserved to the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, the Board of Supervisors of Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, the Board of Supervisors of Community and Technical Colleges, and the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System, as to the institutions under the control of each.

B. (1)(a) All constitutional responsibilities of the Board of Regents, including the development of a formula for equitable distribution of funds, provisions of the master plan for postsecondary education, and any other board policy that is part of a statewide plan or has statewide application, shall apply to all public postsecondary education institutions.

(b) Such formula for the ensuing year shall be annually reported to the Senate Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Education, and the House Committee on Appropriations, not later than March thirty-first of each year.

(2) In the event of a mid-year budget reduction affecting postsecondary education and higher education, no such reduction shall disproportionately reduce the total budgeted funding for any postsecondary or higher education system, nor shall such a reduction result in a disproportional reduction for either division of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

(3) The Board of Regents shall determine during the next Master Plan revision process the appropriate role of universities in offering associate degree programs in view of the creation of the Board of Supervisors of Community and Technical Colleges whose authority is limited to the management of institutions offering less than baccalaureate level certificates and degrees.

C. (1) The legislature hereby finds that it is critical to utilize a tool such as Joint Rule No. 4 which is an established process for the development and preparation of fiscal notes by the legislative auditor or the legislative fiscal office to estimate the cost for a five-year period of time during deliberations on instruments of a fiscal nature.  These fiscal notes provide estimates of the impact not only for revenue and expenditure costs to state departments, agencies, and higher education institutions throughout the state, but also session subject matter, including but not limited to tax increases, decreases, fee increases and repeals, tax exemptions, suspensions, credits, rebates, exclusions, and deductions, among others.  The legislature hereby finds that in order to properly track and assess the impact of legislation over time, it is necessary to periodically evaluate the extent to which fiscal impacts have changed from the original estimates.  The management of state resources requires a comparative review of the growth of initial projections to actual year-end results.  When expenditure and revenue initiatives exceed original estimates, the maintenance of balanced budgets becomes exceedingly difficult to achieve.  To address this issue, the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget should require an annual examination of the estimated results compared to actual implemented results.  The review of intended versus actual results should apply to both state departments, agencies, boards, and commissions, as well as higher education institutions.  A process for review shall be established by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget and all findings shall be reported to all members of the legislature.

(2) As provided by R.S. 17:3351(F), beginning October 1, 2013, and each year thereafter, the Board of Regents shall review the reports of legislation with significant fiscal impact submitted by the various public postsecondary education management boards.  After the Board of Regents has performed its review of the reports submitted by the management boards, the reports shall be submitted to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget by October thirtieth of each year as required by R.S. 24:653(L).

Added by Acts 1975, No. 313, § 1, eff. July 17, 1975.  Amended by Acts 1997, No. 1360, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1998;  Acts 1998, 1st Ex.Sess., No. 151, § 1, eff. July 1, 1999;  Acts 2010, No. 447, § 1, eff. June 22, 2010;  Acts 2010, No. 899, § 1;  Acts 2013, No. 96, § 1, eff. July 1, 2013;  Acts 2013, No. 220, § 6, eff. June 11, 2013;  Acts 2013, No. 280, § 1, eff. June 14, 2013.