A bill for an act
relating to higher education; making policy and technical changes to certain higher
education provisions including student sexual misconduct, student aid, and
institutional licensure provisions; requiring reports; requiring rulemaking; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2022, sections 135A.031, subdivision 7; 135A.15, subdivisions
1a, 2, 8, by adding a subdivision; 136A.091, subdivision 3; 136A.1241, subdivision
3; 136A.1701, subdivisions 4, 7; 136A.62, by adding subdivisions; 136A.63,
subdivision 1; 136A.646; 136A.65, subdivision 4; 136A.675, subdivision 2;
136A.821, subdivision 5, by adding a subdivision; 136A.822, subdivisions 1, 2,
6, 7, 8; 136A.828, subdivision 3; 136A.829, subdivision 3, by adding a subdivision;
Minnesota Statutes 2023 Supplement, sections 135A.121, subdivision 2; 135A.15,
subdivision 1; 135A.161, by adding a subdivision; 135A.162, subdivision 2;
136A.1241, subdivision 5; 136A.1465, subdivisions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; 136A.62,
subdivision 3; 136A.833, subdivision 2; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota
Statutes, chapters 135A; 136A.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 135A.031, subdivision 7, is amended to read:


Subd. 7.

Reports.

(a) The University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges
and Universities systems shall include in their biennial budget proposals to the legislature:

(1) a five-year history of systemwide expenditures, reported by:

(i) functional areas, including instruction, research, public service, student financial aid,
and auxiliary services, and including direct costs and indirect costs, such as institutional
support, academic support, student services, and facilities management, associated with
each functional area; and

(ii) objects of expenditure, such as salaries, benefits, supplies, and equipment, including
a full explanation of all material changes to the expenditure categories when compared to
the prior fiscal year;

(2) a five-year history of the system's total instructional expenditures per full-year
equivalent student, by level of instruction, including upper-division undergraduate,
lower-division undergraduate, graduate, professional, and other categories of instructional
programs offered by the system;

(3) a five-year history of the system's total revenues by funding source, including tuition,
state operations and maintenance appropriations, state special appropriations, other restricted
state funds, federal appropriations, sponsored research funds, gifts, auxiliary revenue, indirect
cost recovery, and any other revenue sources;

(4) an explanation describing how state appropriations made to the system in the previous
biennium were allocated and the methodology used to determine the allocation;

(5) data describing how the institution reallocated resources to advance the priorities set
forth in the budget submitted under section 135A.034 and the statewide objectives under
section 135A.011. The information must indicate whether instruction and support programs
received a reduction in or additional resources. The total amount reallocated must be clearly
explained;

(6) the tuition rates and fees established by the governing board in each of the past ten
years and comparison data for peer institutions and national averages;

(7) data on the number and proportion of students graduating within four, five, and six
years from universities and within three years from colleges as reported in the integrated
postsecondary education data system. These data must be provided for each institution by
race, ethnicity, and gender. Data and information must be submitted that describe the system's
plan and progress toward attaining the goals set forth in the plan to increase the number and
proportion of students that graduate within four, five, or six years from a university or within
three years from a college;

(8) data on, and the methodology used to measure, the number of students traditionally
underrepresented in higher education enrolled at the system's institutions. Data and
information must be submitted that describe the system's plan and progress toward attaining
the goals set forth in the plan to increase the recruitment, retention, and timely graduation
of students traditionally underrepresented in higher education;

(9) data on the revenue received from all sources to support research or workforce
development activities or the system's efforts to license, sell, or otherwise market products,
ideas, technology, and related inventions created in whole or in part by the system. Data
and information must be submitted that describe the system's plan and progress toward
attaining the goals set forth in the plan to increase the revenue received to support research
or workforce development activities or revenue received from the licensing, sale, or other
marketing and technology transfer activities by the system;

(10) data on consulting contracts from the last two completed fiscal years for which the
work is performed by a consultant who is not an employee of the system, for which the
system paid in excess of $500,000. Data must include the name of the consultant, the total
value of the contract, a description of the work completed, and a description of the reasons
for using an outside consultant and not internal staff. Consulting contracts are defined as
contracts from management, investment and financial advisory services, project management,
computer/technology advisory services, and construction project management; deleted text begin and
deleted text end

(11) aggregate data on the following:

(i) student demographics;

(ii) a five-year history of student enrollment, including student enrollment by legislative
district;

(iii) a five-year history of student debt;

(iv) a five-year history of mandatory student fees by campus;

(v) employee head count and employee demographics;

(vi) facilities, including physical space overview, condition, square footage, distribution
by region, any deferred maintenance, and capital bonding requested and received;

(vii) administrative costs, including the definition of "administrators" used by the system,
the total number of "administrators" as percent of total employee head count, and system
office budget for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities as percent of total system
general fund revenue; and

(viii) college and university operating budgetsdeleted text begin .deleted text end new text begin ; and
new text end

new text begin (12) data on, and the methodology used to measure, the number of students owing a
balance at the end of each term and the number of students for whom a transcript is being
withheld due to nonpayment, for the most recent three years. Data and information must be
submitted that describe the system's plan and progress toward ensuring students with balances
have options for continued enrollment and completion of their programs, and traditionally
underrepresented students are not being disproportionately impacted.
new text end

(b) Data required by this subdivision shall be submitted by the public postsecondary
systems to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the Department of Management
and Budget and included in the biennial budget document. Representatives from each system,
in consultation with the commissioner of management and budget and the commissioner
of the Office of Higher Education, shall develop consistent reporting practices for this
purpose.

(c) To the extent practicable, each system shall develop the ability to respond to legislative
requests for financial analyses that are more detailed than those required by this subdivision,
including but not limited to analyses that show expenditures or revenues by institution or
program, or in multiple categories of expenditures or revenues, and analyses that show
revenue sources for particular types of expenditures.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2023 Supplement, section 135A.121, subdivision 2, is amended
to read:


Subd. 2.

Eligibility.

To be eligible each year for the program a student must:

(1) be enrolled in an undergraduate certificate, diploma, or degree program at the
University of Minnesota or a Minnesota state college or university;

(2) be either (i) a Minnesota resident for resident tuition purposes who is an enrolled
member or citizen of a federally recognized American Indian Tribe or Canadian First Nation,
or (ii) an enrolled member or citizen of a Minnesota Tribal Nation, regardless of resident
tuition status; deleted text begin and
deleted text end

(3) have not (i) obtained a baccalaureate degree, or (ii) been enrolled for deleted text begin 180 creditsdeleted text end new text begin 12
semesters
new text end or the equivalent, excluding courses taken that qualify as developmental education
or below college-leveldeleted text begin .deleted text end new text begin ; and
new text end

new text begin (4) meet satisfactory academic progress as defined under section 136A.101, subdivision
10.
new text end

Sec. 3.

new text begin [135A.144] TRANSCRIPT ACCESS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin (a) The terms defined in this subdivision apply to this section.
new text end

new text begin (b) "Debt" means any money, obligation, claim, or sum, due or owed, or alleged to be
due or owed, from a student. Debt does not include the fee, if any, charged to all students
for the actual costs of providing the transcripts.
new text end

new text begin (c) "School" means a public institution governed by the Board of Trustees of the
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, private postsecondary educational institution
as defined under section 136A.62 or 136A.821, or public or private entity that is responsible
for providing transcripts to current or former students of an educational institution.
Institutions governed by the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota are requested
to comply with this section.
new text end

new text begin (d) "Transcript" means the statement of an individual's academic record, including
official transcripts or the certified statement of an individual's academic record provided
by a school, and unofficial transcripts or the uncertified statement of an individual's academic
record provided by a school.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Prohibited practices. new text end

new text begin (a) A school must not refuse to provide a transcript for
a current or former student because the student owes a debt to the school if:
new text end

new text begin (1) the debt owed is less than $1,000;