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US Vote SmartHome » 2023-11-07 election » Texas » Statewide Amendment 05 - AGAINST |
| Statewide Amendment 05 - AGAINST | |
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 Texas |
Statewide Amendment 05 - AGAINST
proposition
Texas Rename State University Research Fund and Establish Ongoing Revenue Source Amendment
(HJR 3): Relating to the Texas University Fund, which provides funding to certain institutions of higher education to achieve national prominence as major research universities and drive the state economy.
Assertions
MCTP Position: Source 
Submitted by john wertz on 2023-10-09 13:25:53
AGAINST
Lack of important details - Corporate Welfare - Taxed Enough Already(TEA)
Major Issues
Texas Scorecard has consolidated the recommendations for voting on the upcoming state constitutional amendments.October 7, 2023
More Corporate Welfare in the Texas Constitution - Huffines Liberty Foundation - AGAINST
Mark Ramsey 2023 Amendments Analysis - AGAINST
Breaks the constitutional “spending caps”. Vague. Bureaucratic. Takes money from Rainy Day Fund.
JoAnn Fleming's "GRASSROOTS AMERICA We The People" '
"Voters, beware! You are being used to grow government! Here’s how."
Current Event Position
So the stated goal of this Bonnen bill is to shuffle money around in order to “achieve prominence” with no additional details. Does this sound fishy to you? I do not believe these investments funneled through state universities are as transparent as other forms of state investments. Between the specificity of exactly how much money will be transferred and the spurious objective of this amendment, it doesn’t smell right. We have a lot of these investment bros in the legislature.
VERDICT: SUSPICIOUS
MCRP Position
This amendment would change the name of the National Research University Fund to the Texas University Fund and establish annual funding by allocating the interest income, dividends, and investment earnings of the Texas Rainy Day Fund. 2024 funding would be limited to $100 million then capped at a 2 percent growth rate. The allocation of funds would be available to a select list of state universities, excluding the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems, as they receive research funds from the Permanent University Fund, established in 1876 with a current value of approximately $30 billion.
It is suggested that readers check out the article, Leveling the Playing Field in Texas: A new endowment for “emerging” Texas research universities, from Inside Higher Ed. Funding would begin with a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR taxpayer-funded endowment to the Texas University Fund and would benefit only four universities: University of Houston, Texas Tech, Texas State, and the University of North Texas.
Questions: With the cost of tuition for Texas students so high, wouldn’t this tax-payer money be better used to lower tuition at the very least? Do universities need more taxpayer funds when so many students are graduating with degrees that do not lead to well paying jobs or careers and many of them are producing liberal graduates who oppose conservative principles? This amendment was HJR 3 from the regular legislative session.
Recommendation: Do extra research before voting.
Information Source: Ballotpedia, Texas 2023 Ballot Measures
