ALERT: ACTION NEEDED!

House Finance Committee announces public testimony on March 6-7 for FY13 Operating Budget

Date	Time	Location
Tuesday, March 6	1:30-2:30 p.m.	Juneau
	2:45-3:45 p.m.	Bethel, Kotzebue, Barrow, Nome, Delta Junction, Offnets
	4-5:15 p.m.	Anchorage
Wednesday, March 7	1:30-2:45 p.m.	Fairbanks
	3-4 p.m.	Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Dillingham, Cordova, Unalaska
	4:15-5 p.m.	Homer, Kenai, Valdez, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Mat-Su, Glennallen, Tok, Seward

Legislative Information Office locations

UA FY13 operating budget:

The House Finance Subcommittee for the University has endorsied the Governor’s numbers to maintain a ‘hold the line’ budget for the FY13 UA operating budget.

However, Representative Fairclough has indicated there may possible amendments to include funding for student success initiatives, and a number of high-demand workforce programs including engineering and nursing in the Board of Regents’FY13 operating budget request. These amendments may be offered when the full budget comes before the House Finance Committee in mid-March.

These amendments have a better chance of making it into the University budget IF the House Finance Committee hears from supporters of the initiatives to back up their actions. This is where the public testimony becomes very important. Legislators keep a tally of how many individuals support the initiative, the names of those that testify and the compelling stories they hear.

The House Finance Committee will take public testimony on March 6 and 7.  Participants must go to their local legislative information office (LIO) to testify, and will have two minutes to make their case.   The Committee will close out the hearings if testimony has ended 15 minutes before the allotted time ends.

What do I say?

(Note: You will have two minutes to make your case)

• Identify yourself by giving your name and affiliation. If you know your House District even better!
• State why you are testifying.
• Pick two or three bullet points about the importance of the initiative.
• Then Tell Your Own Story!

What are the currently unfunded university   FY13 operating budget initiatives?
(See Pages 36-47 of FY13 UA BOR request book)

New Initiatives to Improve Graduation Rates 
These requests support UA’s responsibility during students “the 3 critical years”. They include supporting UA’s part in the joint effort for insuring college readiness and student success during their three key decision and high attrition years (last year of high school and year 1 and year 2 of college). Specific focus placed on improving retention, timely completion, removing student obstacles, establishing much better performance facts, and creating a common database for student decision making.

Funding to accommodate the growing demand for trained professional in the areas of Engineering, Health/Bio-Medical, Teacher Education, and Workforce Development continues to be a top priority for UA. Only through continued investment in these areas will we keep up with the State’s need. The alternatives are to recruit from outside or go without.

Alaska research, economic development, intellectual property
These requests support UA’s newly initiated efforts to create economic value from UA intellectual property commercialization and focused research.