Government Relations
The Texas A&M Office of Government Relations (GR) is located in College Station and is Texas A&M’s interface with the Texas Legislature, Congress, and senior state and federal executive branch officials. The office is part of The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) GR team, a coordinating body of A&M System government relation officers that work in unison to advance system goals. This GR office provides analysis on legislative policy matters that can broadly impact the university community and strives to improve the position of Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University at Galveston and the Texas A&M Health Science Center in the federal and state arenas. The GR office also works in unison with other units throughout campus to develop and coordinate analyses on the potential effects of pending legislation and to implement legislative guidance as appropriate. The office also engages in strategic communications through social media and other channels, seeking to positively influence both public policy and public opinion regarding support for the teaching, research and service at Texas A&M University and throughout higher education.
For more information visit the GR website, and follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
The GR office is led by Julie Kopycinski ’04, chief government relations officer, and Michael Hardy ’13, deputy chief government relations officer and director of federal relations.
State Priorities - 89th Legislative Session (2025)
In fall of even-numbered years, Texas state agencies and public universities submit their Legislative Appropriations Requests (LARs) to the governor's Office of Budget, Planning and Policy and the Legislative Budget Board. These requests are used to prepare the state's general appropriations bill, which provides funding for state agencies and institutions for the following two fiscal years.
These requests include an administrator's statement at the beginning of the LAR to provide a narrative justification for the full legislative appropriations request.
The legislative priorities for Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University at Galveston for the 89th Legislature are summarized below:
Texas A&M University - Exceptional Item Requests
1. Restoring Institutional Enhancement (tx.ag/InstitutionalEnhancement)
The base budget introduced in the 89th Legislature for the FY 2026-27 biennium eliminated Institutional Enhancement statewide. At Texas A&M, this elimination would result in a loss of over $52 million over two years. Texas A&M's highest priority request is the restoration of this important funding source, which enables Texas A&M to invest in student success initiatives; open additional sections of courses; enhance graduate programs; and more.
The elimination of institutional enhancement funding at Texas A&M will result in:
- Closure of 775 course sections university-wide
- Reduced quality of instruction as faculty/student ratios rise in response to fewer sections
- Strained recruitment of high-quality faculty
2. Meeting the Demand for STEM Degrees in Texas (tx.ag/STEMrequest)
This exceptional item will enable Texas A&M University to support future STEM needs in Texas. From 2020 to 2030, Texas' professional scientific and technical services industry is projected to increase 26.8%. Texas A&M produces more college graduates than any other university in the state, with STEM degrees continuing to grow; in fall 2023, over 50% of Texas A&M undergraduates were enrolled in STEM degree programs. Funding from the Texas Legislature will allow Texas A&M to support Texas' growing demand for STEM degrees with:
- Reducing student-to-faculty ratios in STEM degrees
- Increasing student support services
- Enabling courses to be taught in more manageably-sized sections
Additional Texas A&M University priorities
1. Formula funding
Formula funding accounts is the foundation for Texas public institutions of higher education, flowing directly into college classrooms and labs. Texas A&M requests the legislature to maintain support for the formulas outlined in the 89th Legislature's base budget. The general revenue in these formulas will help cover student enrollment growth and help offset record inflation and its resulting pressure on tuition and fees.
2. Texas A&M System employees' health insurance
A decline in state support for these employees' health insurance in recent years has required Texas A&M System institutions to cover these additional costs. Compared with other state employees in the Employee Retirement System of Texas, a gap exists between the state's portion funding for the health costs of Texas A&M System employees. Texas A&M appreciates the funding including in the 88th Legislative Session to support health insurance for its employees that narrowed the gap; but even with the additional funding, the institutions in the Texas A&M System are struggling to keep up with the ever-growing healthcare costs, leading to budget cuts elsewhere.
3. Hazlewood Legacy program
The Hazlewood Act and the Hazlewood Legacy have historically been unfunded mandates on Texas public institutions of higher education to waive tuition for eligible veterans and their dependents. In the 88th Legislative Session, the legislature provided much-needed relief to reimburse for part of the costs incurred by colleges and universities in FY 24-25; however, veteran-friendly universities like Texas A&M continue to have an outsized financial costs on these waivers. Renewing the support and reimbursing the full costs of Hazlewood Legacy waivers will sustain this program for future generations and reduce the cost-shift to other students.
Read more on these requests at tx.ag/TAMU89LAR.
Texas A&M University at Galveston
1. Formula funding
Formula funding is the foundation for Texas public institutions of higher education, flowing directly into college classrooms and labs. Texas A&M requests the legislature to maintain support for the formulas outlined in the 89th Legislature's base budget. The general revenue in these formulas will help cover student enrollment growth and help offset record inflation and its resulting pressure on tuition and fees.
2. Performance Based Funding for Comprehensive Regional Universities
The 87th Legislature recognized the importance of the state's 27 Comprehensive Regional Universities by passing SB1295 and using federal funding to support this legislation. Continued support from the state's General Revenue to provide performance funding for student support programs will help address the state's decline in direct enrollment from high school to college and close the gap in these institutions' graduation rates. Increasing regionals' college enrollment and graduation rates will add more skilled employees to the workforce and improve regional economies.
3. Exceptional item request: Texas A&M Maritime Academy (tx.ag/MaritimeAcademyRequest)
Texas serves as the backbone of the nation's "blue economy," the utilization of ocean resources to transport goods and services. Texas is the #1 exporting state in the U.S., and every single day Texans eat, wear, drive and use products that have traveled through the nation's oceans and inland waterways.
The Texas A&M Maritime Academy, established in 1962 on the Texas A&M Galveston campus, supports this critical workforce need by recruiting, training and producing qualified U.S. mariners ready to work on commercial and federal military sealift vessels. Texas A&M Galveston requests $16 million over the FY 2026-27 biennium to support this critical mission.
Read more on these requests at tx.ag/TAMUG89LAR.
Federal Relations
The goal of Texas A&M’s office for Federal Relations is to elevate the national profile of Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University at Galveston and the Texas A&M Health Science Center, and each entity’s faculty, researchers and students. To accomplish this, the office works closely with the TAMUS Office of Federal Relations, located in Washington, D.C. The system office, led by Dustin Bryant ’04, serves as the primary conduit to Congressional Members, staff, and high-level federal agency personnel.
The Office of Federal Relations maintains excellent relationships with the 40 member (38 House members + 2 Senators) Texas Congressional delegation to raise awareness of Texas A&M's vast and diverse university system. As part of this effort, they accompany Members and staff during campus visits, and help arrange Texas A&M faculty, administrator, and student visits in Washington. The office maintains a current understanding of federal research priorities, and works to ensure that Texas A&M is a part of solving national-level issues by monitoring federal legislation regarding national higher education and research.
Finally, the Office of Federal Relations works closely with national-level higher education associations such as the Association of American Universities (AAU), and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) to address issues that affect the higher education community more broadly. For information on the Texas A&M University System, Washington, D.C. office, please visit www.tamus.edu/relations/relations.
Read more on Texas A&M's FY 25 federal funding opportunities at tx.ag/FY25FederalRequests.
