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Committee hears bill to let Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station apply for Skills Development Fund grants
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Summary
Senate Bill 856 would allow the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station to access the Skills Development Fund to provide industry‑specific job training in partnership with community colleges; witnesses from the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute supported the measure. The committee left the bill pending.
Senate Bill 856, presented by Senator Flores, would add the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station to the list of entities eligible to apply for grants from the Texas Skills Development Fund to deliver hands‑on, industry‑specific job training.
Flores said the Engineering Experiment Station is a state research agency that can address bioscience and biotech workforce needs through professional education partnerships. Victoria Ford of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute told the committee that the station is working with about a dozen community colleges to develop a consistent entry‑level biotech certification; if the station qualifies for a Skills Development Fund grant, community college students would receive hands‑on training at the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing at Texas A&M.
Mary York of the Texas Workforce Commission appeared as a resource witness and confirmed the Skills Development Fund’s competitive grant process and that the fund’s grants require application and qualification. Committee members asked whether the bill would cause other applicants to “lose money”; witnesses said the grants are competitive and that additional appropriation can expand the fund pool.
The committee opened and closed public testimony with no registered witnesses beyond the resource witnesses and left SB 856 pending, subject to the call of the chair.
