Without
a single legislator opposed, the House and Senate
voted unanimously Thursday to approve legislation
calling for a fall referendum on issuing $3.1
billion in bonds to begin a massive construction
program at UNC System and community college
campuses. The rare unanimous accord on the bill, S. 912 Bonds for Higher Education, capped the measure's
whirlwind passage through the legislature. It was
on its way to Gov. Jim Hunt for his signature
three days after it hit the floor and less than
two weeks after the legislature reconvened for
the year. Gov. Hunt will have a bill signing
ceremony on the Capital grounds on Thursday, May
25, at 10 a.m.
On second reading Wednesday, only one of the 170
House and Senate members voted no. That was Rep.
Toby Fitch (D-Wilson), who said he believed the
bonds didn't direct enough money to the
university system's historically black campuses.
NCCBI strongly supports the bonds and has
volunteered to help lead the campaign for their
passage.The bond campaign unofficially kicked off
Wednesday when NCCBI released the results of a
poll of 804 likely voters that found 77 percent
of them would vote for the bonds in November.
"The campaign should begin right now, with
this vote," said House Speaker Jim Black
(D-Mecklenburg). "It's going to take hard,
hard work. The university family and the
community college family both need to get to work
immediately if we're going to get this
passed."
"We are pleased that our lawmakers agree
that the capital needs of our community colleges
and public university campuses are
critical," said N.C. Community College
System President Martin Lancaster. "If the
voters approve the referendum, the $600 million
allocated for community colleges in the bond will
provide $100 million more in capital support for
community colleges in this one package than has
been provided since 1963."
The vote came on an amended version of the higher
education bond bill that passed the Senate last
year but which hit a wall in the House over
demands that the bonds be put to a vote of the
people. The measure, known as the "Michael
K. Hooker Higher Education Facilities Finance
Act, calls for issuing the bonds in the following
amounts and times:
| Fiscal Year |
Universities |
Community
Colleges |
| 2000-01 |
$201,600,000 |
$48,400,000 |
| 2001-02 |
$241,900,000 |
$58,100,000 |
| 2002-03 |
$483,900,000 |
$116,100,000 |
| 2003-04 |
$483,900,000 |
$116,100,000 |
| 2004-05 |
$564,500,000 |
$135,500,000 |
| 2005-06 |
$524,500,000 |
$125,800,000 |
The legislation imposes reporting requirements to
allow the General Assembly to monitor all aspects
of bond spending. The UNC Board of Governors
would be required to report annually to the Joint
Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations
on how the money is being spent. The bill also
creates a Higher Education Bond Oversight
Committee, which will consist of 10 members, with
three appointed by the House speaker, three by
the Senate president pro tem, two by the Board of
Governors and two by the State Board of Community
Colleges.
To address concerns of several African-American
legislators who complained that the historically
black UNC System campuses won't get enough of the
bond money ($1.1 billion of the total $2.5
billion would go to UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State
and East Carolina), the legislation directs the
Board of Governors to continue to study and
monitor any inequities in funding for capital
improvements and facilities needs at the
historically black schools.
Back to main page
|
