The Senate Appropriations Committee this afternoon passed SB 281 and SB 273, the two bills involving Pinnacol Assurance, the quasi-governmental agency from which the legislature wants to take $500 million to help ease the state budget crisis.

Both bills address authorizing the state to make use of certain Pinnacol funds. The Senate plans to do second and third readings of the bills on Thursday and Friday.

In a related matter President Stephen Jordan has announced that if students pass next week’s referendum on a fee to fund the Student Success Building and tuition increases dramatically to help offset budget cuts, the College will not implement the fee.

Jordan told Student Government Assemble leaders today that he doesn’t want to take the referendum off the table since the amount of budget cuts has not yet been finalized, however, “We are moving forward with the understanding that the fee would not be implemented” if the College must institute a substantial tuition increase.

A double-digit tuition increase has become a possibility since the JBC announced last Thursday that they had agreed that they would support allowing the institutions to set their own tuition rates. Legislators are working on a bill that, among other things, would allow colleges to set tuition rates. Known as the College Flexibility Bill, the legislation packages several related issues into one document, among them tuition, fiscal rules and hiring PERA retirees from other institutions.

At the SGA meeting, Jordan also asked the students which programs they feel are most important for the College’s future. “In some sense, we’re all stewards for future Metro State students,” Jordan said.

Go to www.mscd.edu/president/higheredfunding for more information or to send your questions and comments.