University Times

In light of the substantial cuts in Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed fiscal year 2013 state budget, Pitt and its fellow state-related universities are being given the opportunity to testify before the Senate appropriations committee.

Appropriations committee chair Sen. Jake Corman (R-34) said the committee had intended to forgo the hearings because its members visited Pitt, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln for hearings last fall. (See Sept. 15, 2011, University Times.)

Corman told the University Times that the governor’s proposal “is a significant change to the funding and I felt we owed them the opportunity to talk about the impact” of the proposed 30 percent cuts.

Unlike the Feb. 22 House appropriations hearings, in which leaders from the four schools testified as a panel, the Senate committee is scheduling individual hearings for each school. Pitt leaders tentatively are scheduled to appear before the committee at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 29, Corman said.