Senate Higher Education Committee tables amendments, favorably refers SB1 to Rules and Reference

The Senate Higher Education Committee voted 5 to 2 to favorably report substitute Senate Bill 1, the Advance Higher Education Act, to the Committee on Rules and Reference after tabling multiple amendments that would have limited administrative authority or preserved faculty protections.

The bill’s third hearing centered on a set of amendments offered primarily by Ranking Member Ingram and Senator Weinstein that would have changed or removed provisions on faculty strikes, retrenchment definitions, workload specifics, intellectual-diversity language, post-tenure review, program-elimination triggers and syllabus posting. Each amendment was described on the record, then met a motion to lay it on the table; the motions carried by roll call votes of 5 to 2.

Ranking Member Ingram described several amendments as restoring or protecting faculty collective-bargaining and academic standards. On Amendment 85, Ingram said, “This amendment removes provisions which ban faculty from striking faculty working conditions and our student learning conditions, and we should not be eroding the collective bargaining rights of our professors.” That amendment was moved to be laid on the table by Senator Serino and, by roll call, was tabled 5-2.

Ingram also presented Amendment 86, which she said “would allow universities to have control over specific contents of the American Civic Literacy course,” and Amendment 87, which she said ‘‘removes overly specific language regarding faculty workload and instead allows boards of trustees to establish policies.” Both were tabled by motions that passed 5-2.

Amendment 90, described by Ingram as revising “the definition of intellectual diversity” and clarifying when students may reach their own conclusions in the absence of disciplinary consensus, was also tabled 5-2 after a motion by Senator Cerino.

Senator Weinstein offered a series of amendments later in the hearing. He described Amendment 91 as removing “hyper specific requirements for faculty evaluations” while keeping an annual-evaluation requirement; Amendment 92 as eliminating post-tenure-review authority that he said would “erode the foundation of tenure”; and Amendment 93 as removing the automatic-elimination trigger that would require cutting programs that award fewer than five degrees per year on average over a three-year period, proposing instead a study by the chancellor. Each of those amendments was laid on the table by majority votes of 5-2.

Additional amendments described on the record included Amendment 94 (removing language that would prevent renaming or reorganizing programs currently labeled as DEI so that veteran services, disability services and student-success programs are not unintentionally constrained), Amendment 95 (replacing a syllabus-posting requirement with a general course-description requirement), and Amendment 96 (revising language to comply with federal licensure and accreditation by removing an absolute prohibition where necessary training is involved). All were tabled by 5-2 roll-call votes.

After tabling the amendments, Senator Serino moved to favorably report substitute Senate Bill 1 to the Committee on Rules and Reference. On the roll call, the committee voted 5 to 2 in favor; the chair announced that SB1 would be referred to Rules and Reference and noted it was expected to be on the floor later in the day, subject to action by the Rules committee.

Votes at a glance: - Motions to lay Amendments 85, 86, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 and 96 on the table: each motion carried by roll call, 5 yes, 2 no. - Motion to favorably report substitute Senate Bill 1 to the Committee on Rules and Reference: carried by roll call, 5 yes, 2 no.

The committee record shows the majority consistently voted to table changes proposed by the minority to protections for faculty and procedural safeguards; the transcript records limited floor debate beyond amendment descriptions and the tabling motions. No final text changes to the substitute bill were adopted during the third hearing; the bill now proceeds to Rules and Reference for further consideration.