Republican Senate President Robert Stivers wants the General Assembly to put $150 million into research consortiums to encourage Kentucky’s public universities to work together to benefit the state.
Senate Bill 6 is a follow up to 2024 legislation Stivers successfully carried that sets up a research consortium endowment for Kentucky universities to encourage collaboration on projects. SB 6 would give the endowment $150 million from the state’s general fund in the 2026-27 fiscal year to spread across five consortium accounts.
Stivers, of Manchester, told the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee that he thinks Kentucky universities could replicate collaborations among universities elsewhere, such as the Research Triangle in North Carolina, which can lead to cutting-edge developments and economic growth.
“It is just how creative you want to be in developing a five-year plan for research, bringing as many assets and resources as you can bring to the table,” Stivers said, after giving examples of how universities could partner on research in areas like aerospace and aviation.
Under the 2024 law, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education would administer the endowment to consortiums that involve two or more public universities. That legislation had bipartisan support and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
The proposal comes as the Senate considers a budget bill from the House that would cut state funding for public universities. Stivers said that while the funding is a large ask of the state, he has heard from some universities already that they could leverage the research dollars by 10 times, though he did not name them.
Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, of Louisville, said Stivers’ bill is “visionary.”
“It demonstrates what happens when you invest in something to reach objectives — some of (which) are not even defined yet,” he said.
Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said universities with recent academic facility expansions like Northern Kentucky University, which is in her region, could also benefit other institutions with research options like the one in SB 6.
“This is a game changer for Kentucky,” she said.
With unanimous approval of the committee, SB 6 returns to the Senate for a floor vote.