Committee moves ROTC endowment forward with amendments, funds to come from UW block grant

Lawmakers voted to sponsor draft legislation creating a University of Wyoming ROTC endowment fund to support scholarships, recruitment, equipment and instruction for Army and Air Force ROTC at UW, after adopting several amendments.

Talise Hanson of the Legislative Service Office presented bill draft 25 LSO 80, which would create an endowment and separate income account, require the UW Board of Trustees to report annually to the committee and Joint Appropriations Committee on expenditures, and list permissible uses including financial aid for ROTC students, recruitment and training equipment.

University and ROTC leaders urged giving the endowment flexibility and suggested using a spending policy (for example, 5% of a multiyear average) to stabilize distributions. They cited recent reductions in Department of Defense scholarship support and said an endowment would help sustain scholarships and program capacity. ROTC leaders also said both programs are below historic enrollment baselines: Army ROTC reported 56 cadets (below a 10-year average of about 109) and Air Force ROTC reported roughly 40 cadets.

During committee work, Representative Cole successfully moved an amendment inserting a $1 placeholder appropriation; the committee also voted to remove statutory language that would have required the ROTC programs to seek the committee's recommendations on annual expenditures. Lawmakers then amended the draft to make the initial appropriation come from the university's existing block grant rather than the general fund. With those changes the committee voted to sponsor 25 LSO 80 as amended.

The bill's sponsors and university witnesses said the measure will still need a larger appropriation if brought to session, and that the draft will require two-thirds support in both chambers because it establishes a permanent investment fund under the state constitution.