Legislation targets adding another university institution in South Texas

Bill would create a University of Texas System institution with a new medical school

AUSTIN - South Texas could see a new major university if legislation introduced Monday.

Thirteen senators and representatives filed a bill in the state House and a bill in the Senate that would create a University of Texas System institution with a new medical school.

"Imagine a Rio Grande Valley with more jobs, lower poverty levels, higher educational levels, more health care services, more doctors, more access to those doctors and more resources to serve the unique and critical needs of the people of the Valley," said state Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, D-McAllen, one of the authors of the bill. "The possibilities are endless."

Gov. Rick Perry called for a new university in South Texas that would have access to the Permanent University Fund, a source of money reserved only for University of Texas and Texas A&M system institution.

The fund had a market value of almost $14 billion at the end of 2012. It is based on land grants given to the fund, which was established in the Texas Constitution of 1876, according to The University of Texas Investment Management Company, which handles the fund.

"The UT System Board of Regents believes strongly in this mission," UT Regents Chairman Gene Powell said in a news release. "We believe the students of South Texas deserve access to a first-class education and that this new, PUF-eligible university will have a magnificent impact on the educational and economic opportunities in the region."

The university would have campuses at UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville, which haven't been eligible for the funds.

The university might have 28,000 undergraduates, research expenditures of more than $11 million, a $70 million endowment and create 7,000 jobs, according to a news release from Hinojosa.

The vision for the university also includes a four-year medical school.

The UT Board of Regents would decide on the name of the university and the location of any future buildings.

"Passage of the bill will not result in the immediate creation of the new university nor the abolition of the UTPA and UTB," a release from the Rio Grande Valley Legislative Delegation states. "An exact timeline for the creation of the new university and the abolition of UTPA and UTB has yet to be determined. Any student attending UTB or UTPA when the new university is created is entitled to attend the new university."

Using the permanent fund money will require a two-thirds vote from the Legislature.

The permanent fund money is tied in part to oil and gas rights. And the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has lead to a boom in the state's energy industry.

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