ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
NAU; debt service.
Purpose
An emergency measure,
appropriating $4 million from the state general fund in FY 2002-2003 to the
Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) to fund debt service on bonds issued on behalf
of Northern Arizona University (NAU).
Background
Statute authorizes the ABOR
to issue revenue bonds, subject to legislative approval, for capital projects
on behalf of a state university. The Legislature approved the issuance of up to
$245.4 million in revenue bonds for the three state universities in 1996 (Laws
1996, Chapter 334). Of this amount, NAU was allocated $54.8 million. The Joint
Committee on Capital Review (JCCR) gave the multiyear bonding plan a favorable
review in May 1997. Laws 2001, Chapter 233 authorized additional bonding
authority of $39.1 million for NAU, bringing NAU’s total bonding authority to
$93.9 million. Approximately $63 million of the total amount allocated to NAU
remains unused. Law requires JCCR to
again review the multiyear plan, which was done at the October 4, 2001 meeting.
The plan received a favorable review, but the bonds have not yet been issued.
During the 2001 regular
session, NAU was appropriated $4 million for FY 2002-2003 in the general
appropriations act as part of a $16 million biennial general fund university
funding package (Laws 2001, Chapter 236).
(NAU did not receive any monies from the funding package for FY
2001-2002.) The university proposed using
the $4 million to offset tuition collections that would be used to pay the debt
service on the proposed $63 million bond issuance. However, the appropriation was repealed during the 2001 budget
special session along with other FY 2002-2003 general fund appropriations.
The bill appropriates $4
million from the state general fund to ABOR in FY 2002-2003 to offset tuition
collections used to fund debt service on bonds issued on behalf of NAU.
Provisions
1. Appropriates $4 million from the state general fund in FY 2002-2003 to ABOR to offset tuition collections used to fund debt service on bonds issued on behalf of NAU. Exempts the appropriation from lapsing.
2. Requires the appropriation to be added to NAU’s base budget.
3. Becomes effective upon signature of the Governor.
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 23, 2002