As I understand the PUF, it accounts for a small percentage of the eligible universities’ budgets. This amendment allows the legislature to define which universities would be eligible.
As long as the legislature is held by conservatives, that’s a good thing. If it’s held by liberals, then this fund could become a reward system for votes. I’m concerned about it, but you can twist my arm with more information. :) I’m open to outside influence on this one.
I hate the wiki, but here’s a link for those unfamiliar with PUF.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_University_Fund
By the way, whenever you hear legislative language that sounds like "research university this research that blah blah reaserach blah major research national research" and so on, what you are hearing is the University of Houston's lobbying team. UH has been at the forefront of efforts to open up the puff. They get a huge percentage of their funding from research grants (mostly Federal) and it's like this huge manic identity trait for them.