Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Senator Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo

AUSTIN - The legislation that would help Texas Tech and other universities in the state get national research institution status, more commonly known as tier-one or flagship, is alive and well in the Texas Legislature.

Sens. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who filed separate bills to help the schools get the prestigious designation, said Wednesday that their legislation survived the five days of "chubbing" in the House - excessive talking that some Democratic lawmakers used to kill a voter identification bill - because they attached it to House Bill 51 which the Senate passed Tuesday night.

"Hope is still alive," Duncan said. "There is still a lot of parliamentary work but House Bill 51 is in pretty good and I am very confident that it'll pass as we sent it out from the Senate."

The bill, filed by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, now goes back to the House. If the author recommends to the 150-member chamber to approve the version the Senate passed a final vote is taken before the proposal heads for Gov. Rick Perry's desk for his signature. If there are disagreements between the two chambers, a 10-member conference committee is formed to work out the differences.

"We're negotiating with the House and it is my understanding that they are in concurrence with what we have done here on the Senate side," Duncan said.

Legislation that Duncan filed also included a constitutional amendment that he and Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, filed but that bill, a proposed constitutional amendment, "is a little more shaky," he said.

"Hopefully we can convince our House friends to allow that amendment to remain on the resolution," of an eminent domain bill, Duncan said.

Besides Tech, the other schools under consideration for tier-one are the University of Houston, the University of North Texas (in Denton) and the University of Texas campuses at Arlington, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio. The seven schools are commonly called emerging universities.

The Legislature estimated last year that the cost to the state to give the seven schools tier-one designation would be about half a billion dollars. Tech Chancellor Kent Hance said at the time that of that amount Tech would need between $40 million and $60 million.

Currently, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University in College Station, plus Rice University in Houston, a private institution, are the only tier-one schools in the state.

California, on the other hand, has nine flagship schools and New York seven, Shapiro told her colleagues when the tier-one bills came up to the Senate floor for a vote.

Zaffirini, said she is also confident that HB 51 will get final passage and the seven schools will eventually get flagship status.

"I feel this is an excellent bill," Zaffirini said.

And what she likes most about HB 51 is that it would not only help Tech and the six other schools get tier-one status but would encourage all other universities in Texas to work on the same goal.

"It provides performance incentives so that all the other colleges can also promote undergraduate research and we reward them for students' success," Zaffirini explained. "So it really has something for all the universities and what we are trying to do is underscore is excellence."

Even Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, who voted against Duncan's bill because he said it would have given Tech and the University of Houston a clear advantage over UTEP and the four other schools to get tier-one status, liked the bill the Senate passed.

"HB 51 is a historic bill," Shapleigh said. "For years, Texas has lagged California, New York, Michigan and other states in tier-one universities. With HB 51 we have the framework for achieving tier-one."

The only flaw with the legislation, Shapleigh said, is the Ph.D. requirement which discriminates against all universities along or near the border with Mexico, including UTEP, an assessment that Duncan disagreed with.

HB 51, like the bill Duncan had filed, calls for a minimum of 200 doctoral degrees to qualify for flagship status. Shapleigh wanted it lowered to 100.

The final passage of the bill is expected in the next few days because the 140-day session ends Monday.