Nebraska Revised Statute 85-1416

Chapter 85

85-1416.

Budget and state aid requests; review; commission; duties.

(1) Pursuant to the authority granted in Article VII, section 14, of the Constitution of Nebraska and the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education Act, the commission shall, in accordance with the coordination function of the commission pursuant to section 85-1403, review and modify, if needed to promote compliance and consistency with the comprehensive statewide plan and prevent unnecessary duplication, the budget requests of the governing boards.

(2)(a) At least thirty days prior to submitting to the Governor their biennial budget requests pursuant to subdivision (1) of section 81-1113 and any major deficit appropriation requests pursuant to instructions of the Department of Administrative Services, the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska and the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges shall each submit to the commission an outline of its proposed operating budget. The outline of its proposed operating budget or outline of proposed state aid request shall include those information summaries provided to the institution's governing board describing the respective institution's budget for the next fiscal year or biennium. The outline shall contain projections of funds necessary for (i) the retention of current programs and services at current funding levels, (ii) any inflationary costs necessary to maintain current programs and services at the current programmatic or service levels, and (iii) proposed new and expanded programs and services. In addition to the outline, the commission may request an institution to provide to the commission any other supporting information to assist the commission in its budget review process. An institution may comply with such requests pursuant to section 85-1417.

(b) On September 15 of each biennial budget request year, the boards of governors of the community colleges or their designated representatives shall submit to the commission outlines of their proposed state aid requests.

(c) The commission shall analyze institutional budget priorities in light of the comprehensive statewide plan, role and mission assignments, and the goal of prevention of unnecessary duplication. The commission shall submit to the Governor and Legislature by October 15 of each year recommendations for approval or modification of the budget requests together with a rationale for its recommendations. The recommendations submitted to the Legislature shall be submitted electronically. The analysis and recommendations by the commission shall focus on budget requests for new and expanded programs and services and major statewide funding issues or initiatives as identified in the comprehensive statewide plan. If an institution does not comply with the commission's request pursuant to subdivision (a) of this subsection for additional budget information, the commission may so note the refusal and its specific information request in its report of budget recommendations. The commission shall also provide to the Governor and the Appropriations Committee of the Legislature on or before October 1 of each even-numbered year a report identifying public policy issues relating to student tuition and fees, including the appropriate relative differentials of tuition and fee levels between the sectors of public postsecondary education in the state consistent with the comprehensive statewide plan. The report submitted to the committee shall be submitted electronically.

(3) At least thirty days prior to submitting to the Governor their biennial budget requests pursuant to subdivision (1) of section 81-1113 and any major deficit appropriation requests pursuant to instructions of the Department of Administrative Services, the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska and the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges shall each submit to the commission information the commission deems necessary regarding each board's capital construction budget requests. The commission shall review the capital construction budget request information and may recommend to the Governor and the Legislature modification, approval, or disapproval of such requests consistent with the statewide facilities plan and any project approval determined pursuant to subsection (10) of section 85-1414. The recommendations submitted to the Legislature shall be submitted electronically. The commission shall develop from a statewide perspective a unified prioritization of individual capital construction budget requests for which it has recommended approval and submit such prioritization to the Governor and the Legislature for their consideration. The prioritization submitted to the Legislature shall be submitted electronically. In establishing its prioritized list, the commission may consider and respond to the priority order established by the Board of Regents or the Board of Trustees in their respective capital construction budget requests.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect other constitutional, statutory, or administrative requirements for the submission of budget or state aid requests by the governing boards to the Governor and the Legislature.