Authority: Title 23.1, Chapter 22, Code of Virginia.

A. This Item includes general and nongeneral fund appropriations to support institutional initiatives that help meet statewide goals described in the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act of 2005 (Chapters 933 and 945, 2005 Acts of Assembly).

B.1. This appropriation includes an amount not to exceed $1,393,959 the first year and $1,393,959 the second year from the general fund for the operation of the Family Practice Residency Program and Family Practice medical student programs. This appropriation for Family Practice programs, whether ultimately implemented by contract, agreement or other means, is considered to be a grant.

2. The university shall report by July 1 annually to the Department of Planning and Budget an operating plan for the Family Practice Residency Program.

3. The University of Virginia, in cooperation with the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority, shall establish elective Family Practice Medicine experiences in Southwest Virginia for both students and residents.

4. In the event the Governor imposes across-the-board general fund reductions, pursuant to his executive authority in § 4-1.02 of this act, the general fund appropriation for the Family Practice programs shall be exempt from any reductions, provided the general fund appropriation for the family practice program is excluded from the total general fund appropriation for the University of Virginia for purposes of determining the university's portion of the statewide general fund reduction requirement.

C. 1. Out of this appropriation, $1,476,467 the first year and $1,576,467 $1,776,467 the second year from the general fund and $714,900 the first year and $714,900 the second year from nongeneral funds is designated for the Virginia Foundation for Humanities and Public Policy. Out of the total funding, $250,000 and two positions the first year and $250,000 and two positions the second year from the general fund and $714,900 and four positions the first year and $714,900 and four positions the second year from nongeneral funds is provided to support Discovery Virginia, an online archive to preserve elements of Virginia history, culture, and heritage, and make the materials accessible to the public.

2. Pursuant to House Joint Resolution 762, 1999 Session of the General Assembly, funds in this Item begin to address the objective of appropriating one dollar per capita for the support of the Foundation.

D. Out of this appropriation, an amount estimated at $501,230 the first year and $501,230 the second year from the general fund and at least $468,850 the first year and at least $468,850 the second year from nongeneral funds are designated for the educational telecommunications project to provide graduate engineering education. For supplemental budget requests, the participating institutions and centers jointly shall submit a report in support of such requests to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for review and recommendation to the Governor and General Assembly.

E. Out of this appropriation, $183,306 the first year and $183,306 the second year from the general fund, and at least $283,500 the first year and at least $283,500 the second year from nongeneral funds are designated for the independent Virginia Institute of Government at the University of Virginia Center for Public Service.

F. Out of this appropriation, at least $148,577 the first year and $148,577 the second year from the general fund is designated for support of diabetes education and public service at the Virginia Center for Diabetes Professional Education at the University of Virginia.

G. Out of this appropriation $304,927 the first year and $304,927 the second year from the general fund and $53,189 the first year and $53,189 the second year from nongeneral funds are designated for support of the State Arboretum at Blandy Farm.

H. As Virginia's public colleges and universities approach full funding of the base adequacy guidelines and as the General Assembly strives to fully fund the general fund share of the base adequacy guidelines, these funds are provided with the intent that, in exercising their authority to set tuition and fees, the Board of Visitors shall take into consideration the impact of escalating college costs for Virginia students and families. In accordance with the cost-sharing goals set forth in § 4-2.01 b. of this act, the Board of Visitors is encouraged to limit increases on tuition and mandatory educational and general fees for in-state, undergraduate students to the extent possible.

I. The 4-VA, a public-private partnership among George Mason University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, and CISCO Systems, Inc., utilizes emerging technologies to promote collaboration and resource sharing to increase access, reduce time to graduation and reduce unit cost while maintaining and enhancing quality. Instructional talent across the five institutions is leveraged in the delivery of programs in foreign languages, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The 4-VA Management Board can expand this partnership to additional institutions as appropriate to meet the goals of the 4-VA initiative. It is expected that funding will be pooled by the management board as required to support continuing efforts of the 4-VA priorities and projects.

J. Out of this appropriation, $190,000 the first year and $190,000 the second year from the general fund is designated for a pilot program to expand health care services to rural and medically underserved areas through the use of nurse practitioners and telemedicine.

K. Out of this appropriation, $175,000 the first year and $175,000 the second year is designated to support the efforts of the Weldon Cooper Center to produce population estimates at least every other year in between census years.

L. Out of this appropriation, $115,000 the first year from the general fund is designated to support the Weldon Cooper Center's participation in the federal Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) to ensure completeness and accuracy of the Commonwealth's address list to be used in the census.

M. The appropriation for the fund source Higher Education Operating in this Item shall be considered a sum sufficient appropriation, which is an estimate of the amount of revenues to be collected for the educational and general program under the terms of the management agreement between the University of Virginia and the Commonwealth, as set forth in Chapters 933 and 943, of the 2006 Acts of Assembly.

N. 1. Out of this appropriation, $2,661,340 the second year from the general fund is designated to address increased degree production in Data Science and Technology, Science and Engineering, Healthcare, and Education.

2. Degree production shall be measured for Bachelors, Masters, Doctorates and First Professional awards as follows:

a. Data Science and Technology awards shall be based on completion data contained in the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, C-16 completion report;

b. Science and Engineering awards shall be based on completion data contained in the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), C-1 A1 completion report for the following programs Biological and Biomedical Science (26), Engineering (14) less those already counted in paragraph 2 a., Engineering Technologies (15), and Physical Sciences (42);

c. Healthcare awards shall be based on completion data contained in the SCHEV C-1 A1 completion report for the Health Professions and Related Programs (51); and

d. Education awards shall be based on completion data contained in the SCHEV C-1 A1 completion report for the Education Programs (13).

3. The University of Virginia is expected to increase:

a. Data Science and Technology awards by 20 in the second year.

b. Science and Engineering awards by 30 in the second year.

c. Healthcare awards by 20 in the second year.

d. Education awards by 10 in the second year.

e. The 2016-17 year will serve as the base year for these purposes.

4. SCHEV shall report on the progress toward these goals to the Chairman of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees report on the progress toward these goals annually beginning August 2020.

O. The President of the University of Virginia shall lead a collaborative evaluation between the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University, with assistance from other institutions of higher education and organizations with expertise in this area, to analyze the problems facing rural Virginia and develop strategic recommendations for improvement. Such recommendations shall be reported to the Governor and the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees by October 1, 2018.