 A very difficult yet productive state legislative session for DRI is nearly over.
I was pleased to learn today that the Senate Finance Committee concurred with the Assembly Ways and Means Committee on funding for the second phase of our CAVE building, granting DRI $7.91 million. This will allow for the completion of a project that has received federal, state and private funding. This building will allow DRI critically needed space to develop high-level computational research and additional office and lab space for DRI faculty and staff. When complete, DRI will house the only six-sided CAVE west of Iowa State University. In the 2005 legislative session, DRI received an initial $14.4 million from the state legislature. DRI has also received $2 million in federal funding and raised $1.5 million from non-state sources.
I am looking forward to a formal groundbreaking in the near future.
The most difficult work for DRI was in obtaining additional administrative support funding from the state. Having been recommended by the Governor for an additional $1.9 million over the biennium being added to our operating budget, it was trimmed to $600,000 after a $50 million downturn in state general fund revenues. A joint meeting of the money committees in early May had eliminated DRI's operating request completely, but in the subsequent weeks, we made our case for how critical this support was to the future growth of the institute and a portion of our request was restored. Many of the DRI Research Foundation Trustees who contacted legislators on DRI's behalf deserve our gratitude.
The most disappointing development for DRI was that the legislature decided not to fund the Governor's $2 million recommendation for a statewide water study through the state engineer's office.
Another positive development was $243,960 that we received in operating funding for the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences. This is new support from the state for the space that UNR and DRI use at Sierra Nevada College. The legislature also passed a resolution in support of our mission to study and preserve Lake Tahoe.
There was also good news for the rest of the Nevada System of Higher Education, which successfully obtained an additional $2 million in hold harmless money and did not see the overall budgets reduced by $11.8 million after not reaching enrollment projections. Merit pay funding of $5.4 million was restored. Also, cost of living was approved at 2 percent in the first year of the biennium and 4 percent in the second year. Lastly, the Health Sciences System received more than $90 million of its $110 million request in one-shot funding.
DRI has many friends in the legislature and we are grateful for the continuing support of Nevada's lawmakers |
