House keeps tuition amendment alive in final hours
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The Times-Picayune: The House of Representatives today approved a constitutional amendment that would strip from the Legislature control over college tuition rates, but still keep higher education governing boards from raising costs more than 5 percent annually. Louisiana is the only state in the country that requires a two-thirds vote to approve tuition increases at public colleges and universities, a situation that college chiefs say ties their hands. The situation is further complicated by the TOPS scholarship program, because it effectively means that lawmakers increase the cost of that benefit with each approved tuition increase. Higher Education Commissioner Sally Clausen has pushed the constitutional amendment, which voters would decide in November 2010, but preferred a version without any limitations. The Senate-passed version would have required colleges to return to the Legislature for the traditional two-thirds vote only if they wanted more than a 5 percent hike in a given year. Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Napoleonville, today initially convinced House members to strip that amendment. That divided vote was closer but still consistent with an 82-7 House vote earlier this session for House Bill 511, Harrison's version of the tuition constitutional amendment that later died in a Senate committee. Yet as debate wore on, members aversion to higher tuition rates and their reluctance to give up their power became the dominant theme.
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