MINUTES SENATE COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS Monday, March 14, 2005 2:00 p.m. Capitol Extension, Room E1.016 ***** Pursuant to a notice posted in accordance with Senate Rule 11.18, a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Nominations was held on Monday, March 14, 2005, in the Capitol Extension, Room E1.016, at Austin, Texas. ***** MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Senator Jon Lindsay Senator Bob Deuell Senator Gonzalo Barrientos Senator Kevin Eltife Senator Mike Jackson Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. Senator Jane Nelson ***** The chair called the meeting to order at 4:13 p.m. There being a quorum present, the following business was transacted: The following members arrived after the roll was called: Senator Eltife and Senator Jackson. Senator Nelson moved adoption of the minutes from the previous hearing held on March 7, 2005; without objection, it was so ordered. Chairman Lindsay recognized Senator Ken Armbrister for an introduction. Senator Armbrister introduced John Barnhill who was appointed to the University of Texas System Board of Regents. Armbrister gave a brief bio on Barnhill, who worked his way through the ranks of that little creamery in Brenham, Texas, and has since retired from Bluebell Ice Cream. Barnhill is a University of Texas Alumni as well as a past UT Alumni Association president and is also experienced with the legislature; he was formerly chief of staff for ex-Governor Price Daniels. Because of his leadership skills and dedication to the public service, Barnhill was lauded by Armbrister as being one of the best appointees in a long time. Chairman Lindsay recognized Senator John Carona. Senator Carona introduced his constituent and re-appointee to the UT Board of Regents, Robert Rowling. Rowling is also a UT Austin graduate and a graduate of Southern Methodist University's Law School. He is chairman of Omni Hotels and president of TRT Holdings, Omni's parent company. Senator Carona praised Rowling's vast experience and proven commitment to service. Both gentlemen made brief comments about themselves, their families and time served on the Board, then opened themselves up for questions. Chairman Lindsay declared the two issues he wanted addressed: tuition and admissions. Rowling began saying that he had voted for the tuition increases at UT Pam Am and UT Brownsville because enrollment numbers have increased so rapidly around the system with UT Austin being the exception. Per capita was down by 15% for the last two bienniums, and, noted Rowling, even with the increase in tuition, UT is the second cheapest tuition figure in the ten most populous states. Rowling offered other possible solutions such as changing the student to faculty ratio; also try to create other flagship institutions in Texas besides UT and A & M. Barnhill agreed with Rowling saying he is thoroughly convinced that enrollment is growing at such a rapid pace and appealed to the legislature to fund as much as possible. He also said he thinks the 10% rule allows a lot of students to get into schools that normally could not get in but he thinks that it is wrong to have only one set of criteria for admission. Chairman Lindsay told the nominees he had picked up comments from around the state's campuses and wondered if the 10 % rule caused them to get better students. Rowling said that schools like the University of Oklahoma and University of Georgia loved our 10% rule because they were flooded with great students who could not get admitted in Texas. The chair recognized Senator Lucio who asked if they were open to the idea of a medical school or a law school in South Texas and along the border. Rowling replied that he thought a medical school was needed more than a law school because we already have enough lawyers. Lucio countered, saying we may have enough lawyers but there are still a lot of kids who want to study law. Lucio asked for their thoughts on finding alternative revenue sources. Barnhill addressed the need to fill the gap concerning the influx of Hispanic student. He also talked about research dollars for technology filtering down and mentioned fundraising although the schools were too young to generate much alumni funding at this time. Lucio asked about having a student regent and regents by region, mentioning his concern that his region was unrepresented. Rowling said it would be hard for a student from one of the UT campuses to know about all of them since they were all different. Barnhill added that it would be difficult for a student to know about the health institutions, such as M. D. Anderson. Chairman Lindsay recognized Vice-chairman Deuell who asked for their thoughts about a bill that would require the regents to have public testimony-Barnhill and Rowling both said that the meetings were too long and that taking time for public testimony would be the main problem. Chairman Lindsay recognized Senator Barrientos who commended the men on their service and thanked them for visiting his office. Barrientos informed the committee that he had passed the top 10% rule and had tried for ten years to get a student regent allowed on the board but finally passed it off to a Republican who he thought might have better luck. He quizzed the two men more about why they thought a student could not handle the position. Rowling said the time constraints would be hard for a fulltime student to manage, Barrientos asked Rowling why a student could not handle the schedule if he (Rowling) was able to do it. Barrientos asked Barnhill about his previous comment on the influx of Hispanics and questioned him on the ethnic breakdown at UT Austin. Barrientos also cautioned them to really breakdown the number of hispanics in an effort to differentiate between native Mexican- Americans born in Texas and those from Bolivia, Argentina and other Latin American cultures. Barrientos asked Rowling how he planned to address under-representation. Rowling said personally he thinks the 10% rule has done nothing to help ethnic diversity based on the pre- Hopwood UT studies he has read. Barrientos said he was also using a UT study that differed from Rowling's and asked Rowling to check out the different reports. Barrientos also asked Rowling for his sources on the 10 % rule figures. Barrientos stated he was against tuition deregulation, saying there is no such thing as a free lunch but that we can do something that is fair. He asked the men to help establish a foundation in this rapidly changing culture and society. At 4:57 p.m. Chairman Lindsay asked for a motion; Lucio so moved. The committee voted 7-0 to recommend Barnhill and Rowling to the full Senate for confirmation. At 4: 58 p. m. Chairman Lindsay announced that the committee would vote on all the non-appearing nominees listed with the exception of Rita Esther Baca, nominee to the Animal Health Commission, who would be left pending. Lucio so moved and the committee voted 7-0 to pass nominees from the following entities to the full Senate for confirmation: Angelina and Neches River Authority Board of Directors, Animal Health Commission, Texas Economic Development Corporation, State Board for Educator Certification, Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, San Jacinto River Authority Board of Directors and State Securities Board. Chairman Lindsay asked for a motion to vote on the pending business. Barrientos so moved; at 5:01 p.m. the committee voted by 7-0 to recommend Geraldine "Tincy" Miller to the full Senate for confirmation. At 5:02 p.m. Senator Lindsay moved that the committee stand recessed subject to the call of the chair.; without objection, it was so ordered. _________________________________________ Senator Jon Lindsay, Chair _________________________________________ Jazen Wood, Clerk