The requirement to recover part of the cost of state housing originated in a 1996 TPR recommendation. The 1997 Legislature enacted this recommendation through a rider to the General Appropriations Act, which can only direct agency action for the two-year state budget period. Therefore, new legislation will be needed to require agencies to increase recoveries in later years. Dwellings provided at higher education institutions range from the housing provided to chancellors and presidents to farm and ranch housing and housing provided to security personnel. Institutions reported the percent of the dwellings' space that is for personal use ranged from 19 percent to 100 percent.
Rent requirements vary among institutions.
For example, all 28 University of Texas McDonald Observatory employees pay annual rents ranging from 43 percent to more than 100 percent of fair market value. Housing units in which 50 percent or less of the space is for personal use should be exempted from this requirement. In addition, this requirement should not apply to resident assistants who are provided housing in partial payment for supervisory duties in dormitories. Institutions should recover at least 20 percent of the fair market rental value of housing in fiscal 2000. B. State law should be amended to require each state agency that reports employee housing to the General Land Office to recover at least 30 percent of the established fair market rental value of its housing in fiscal 2000 and 40 percent of the value in fiscal 2001.