HIGHER ED. INSTITUTIONAL DATA INVENTORY

House Bill 4838

Sponsor:  Rep. Lorence Wenke

Committee:  Higher Education and Career Preparation

Complete to 5-27-05

A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4838 AS INTRODUCED 5-26-05

House Bill 4838 would amend the Management and Budget Act  to require in statute that the state budget director establish, maintain, and coordinate the state higher education database commonly known as the Higher Education Institutional Data Inventory (HEIDI); arrange for audits conducted by the auditor general of the data collected from public universities; and appoint a six-member HEIDI advisory committee.  [Such a committee is currently established through provisions in the Higher Education budget bill.]  More specifically, the state budget director would be required to do all of the following:

·                    establish, maintain, and coordinate a state higher education database which would commonly be known as the Higher Education Institutional Data Inventory, or HEIDI;

·                    collect data concerning public universities and their programs, including data required by law, and include it in the database;

·                    establish procedures to ensure the validity and reliability of the data, and the collection process;

·                    develop model data collection policies, including but not limited to policies that ensured the privacy of individual student data (and prohibiting the release of student social security numbers to the public);

·                    provide data in a useful manner to allow state policymakers and public university officials to make informed policy decisions;

·                    provide reports to the citizens of the state to allow them to assess the allocation of resources and the return on their investment in the public university system;

·                    assist public universities in complying with audits under this law or federal law; and

·                    perform other functions assigned by the state budget director, or the HEIDI advisory committee.

The bill would put into statute a six-member HEIDI advisory committee within the Office of the State Budget Director.  The committee members would include one representative from the House Fiscal Agency appointed by its director; one representative from the Senate Fiscal Agency appointed by its director; one representative of the Office of the State Budget Director appointed by the director; and three representatives of the Presidents Council of State Universities appointed by the council.  Under the bill, the three university appointees would have to represent "a master's university, a doctoral university, and a research university," respectively.  [The FY 2004-05 Higher Education budget bill contains boilerplate language creating such an advisory committee with the same membership.]

The HEIDI advisory committee would provide advice to the state budget director on the management of the state database, including determining what data must be collected and maintained; defining the roles of stakeholders in the data collection system; recommending timelines for the implementation and ongoing collection of data; establishing and maintaining data definitions, data transmission protocols, and system specifications and procedures for the efficient and accurate transmission and collection of data; establishing and maintaining a process for ensuring the accuracy of the data; establishing and maintaining policies related to data collection, including privacy policies on individual student data; ensuring that data is made available to state policymakers and citizens in the most useful format possible; and addressing other matters as determined by the state budget director, or as required by law.

The auditor general would be required to review the inventory enrollment data submitted by all public universities, and also perform audits of data submitted.  The review and audits would be based on the definitions, requirements, and uniform reporting categories established by the state budget director, and the Senate and House fiscal agencies.  The auditor general would submit an annual report of findings to the House and Senate Appropriations committees and the state budget director by July 1 of each year.  The auditor general would periodically audit the inventory data submitted by the public universities, to determine compliance with the definitions approved by the HEIDI advisory committee.

MCL 18.1299

FISCAL IMPACT:

The bill would have no significant fiscal impact on state or local government.

                                                                                           Legislative Analyst:   J. Hunault

                                                                                                  Fiscal Analyst:   Kyle Jen

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.