Bill Summary for Bill Number Colorado School of Mines FY 2009-10 State-Funded Requests

Date: 02/05/2009

Final
Colorado School of Mines FY 2009-10 State-Funded Requests

COMMITTEE ON CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Approve cash funds spending authority for the Meye	PASS

07:35 AM -- Colorado School of Mines FY 2009-10 State-Funded Requests

The meeting came to order. A quorum was not present, but the chairman decided to begin the meeting because action was not required on the first agenda item. Senator Schwartz and Representative McFadyen joined the committee shortly after the meeting began, constituting a quorum.

Ms. Kirsten Volpi, Senior Vice-President for Finance and Administration, and Dr. Thomas Boyd, Dean of Graduate Studies, both of the Colorado School of Mines, came to the table to present two FY 2009-10 state-funded capital construction requests. Committee members received summaries of the Meyer Hall Replacement project (Attachment A) and the Earth Energy Institute (Attachment B), both prepared by Legislative Council Staff, and an overview of the Earth Energy Institute, prepared by the Colorado School of Mines (Attachment C). Ms. Volpi briefly described both projects and indicated that there is potential for the school to receive federal money as part of a stimulus package for energy-related opportunities, including these projects. She said the school has provided a list of these opportunities to Congressman Perlmutter, at his request. For the Earth Energy Institute, there is also a private donor interested in providing funds for the project. Ms. Volpi said the school hopes to replace state funds for both requests with any federal funds received, in addition to funding that will be provided from institutional sources and student funds. However, if federal funds are not made available, the school expects to request state funds for both projects. She explained that the school wants the projects to be ready to go with state approval so there are no delays when a federal stimulus package is delivered to the state, and so that these projects do not lose potential federal money because they are not ready to proceed. Dr. Boyd described the mission of the Earth Energy Institute and noted some of its accomplishments.

07:44 AM

Dr. Boyd and Ms. Volpi responded to questions from the committee concerning the school's capital priorities, specifically the Marquez Hall project, which received state funding in the 2008 Long Bill and cash funding through certificates of participation issued in November 2008 and paid with federal mineral lease (FML) revenue. Discussion continued about what other states are doing about energy-related issues addressed by the institute, and whether there are organizations looking to donate funds to energy-related projects. Discussion turned to whether federal money will be allocated to states as a block grant or for specific projects. The committee expressed concern about approving these two projects if federal funds are allocated as state block grants. Several committee members voiced a desire to be able to prioritize projects eligible for any block grant the state receives. The committee made it clear that, by approving these projects, it does not move them to the top of the committee's priority list ahead of other projects, but it simply authorizes the projects to move forward if these specific projects are awarded federal funds. Representative McFadyen commented that approving the projects moves them one step closer to being ready to begin, which may actually help secure federal funding for the projects.


BILL:	Colorado School of Mines FY 2009-10 State Requests
TIME:	07:46:50 AM
MOVED:	Sonnenberg
MOTION:	Approve cash funds spending authority for the Meyer Hall Replacement project and the Earth Energy Institute project, contingent on receipt of federal funds allocated to the projects, in place of state funds requested for the projects, as shown in Attachments A and B. The motion carried on a 5-0 vote, with one member absent.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	McFadyen	Yes
	Penry	Absent
	Schwartz	Yes
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Bacon	Yes
	Riesberg	Yes

Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: PASS