_This weekly column is brought to you by a partnership between The Maneater and The Associated Students of the University of Missouri, the official student lobbying group for the UM System’s 77,000 students. ASUM has four legislative issues on their platform: the budget, a voting student curator, landlord-tenant relations and a STEM initiative._
**Conference committee announces final UM System budget figures**
On Thursday, the conference committee released its final state budget to the public. That budget contained good news for the UM System and its students. The central reason for optimism is a 4 percent Performance Funding increase, totaling $17.1 million. That increase stands in stark contrast to the harsh stances taken by some legislators earlier this year, who argued for no funding increase whatsoever for the UM System. However, this year’s budget is not all positive for the UM System. In addition to a Performance Funding increase, the conference committee levied a $3.8 million cut to UM System administration. This was also a significant reduction from the $7.6 million cut the House proposed earlier in the session.
**STEM legislation passes Senate, makes progress in House**
One of ASUM’s core pieces of legislation made headway this week. The Senate version, SB 873, of our STEM legislation, which would reallocate funding toward bolstering interest in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math, was passed by a vote of 31–1. That legislation then moves to the House, where it was first read on Thursday. Meanwhile, the House version, HB 1640, of the legislation has been reported Do Pass from both the Committee on Higher Education and Select Committee on Education. Going forward, ASUM looks to place either version of that legislation on the House calendar as soon as possible while actively lobbying House representatives for affirmative votes.
**State Sen. Schaefer’s university review commission legislation gains traction**
Earlier this session, state Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, introduced legislation that would create a “review commission” tasked with reviewing and recommending changes to UM System policy and programs. On Thursday, that legislation was heard by the House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee and was met with a largely positive response. Representatives from the UM System supported it, especially if it meant an offset in the amount of budget cuts levied and would help to address lawmakers’ concerns. Such a review commission would be composed of eight members: four appointed by the speaker of the House and four appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate. Funding of $750,000 was approved by the legislature for this commission. If passed, this commission would detail their recommended changes by the end of 2016.
