ANNAPOLIS, MD—At Bowie State University, Governor Hogan joined Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones to sign HB1/SB1, landmark bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) funding legislation.
They were joined by Lieutenant Governor Boyd K. Rutherford, Bowie State University President Aminta Hawkins Breaux, Coppin State University Anthony L. Jenkins, Morgan State University Dr. David Kwabena Wilson, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore President Heidi M. Anderson.
Following are the governor’s remarks, as prepared for delivery.
Good afternoon.
I want to begin by thanking Bowie State University for hosting us today, and I'm very pleased to be joined by Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones, along with our university presidents, for this important occasion.
We are here to enact an historic, bipartisan measure that will be an unprecedented step forward in addressing inequities in our higher education system by making additional substantial investments in Maryland’s historically Black colleges and universities.
In our past seven budgets, we have funded historically Black colleges and universities at historically high levels, providing more than $2.2 billion in state support. No governor in the history of the state has ever invested more in Maryland’s HBCUs. Our administration has advanced more than a billion dollars in major projects at all four HBCUs in Maryland, including for the new Communication, Arts, and Humanities building here at Bowie State.
The legislation we are signing into law here today will provide even more critical investments for all these institutions. It also finally brings to an end a more than 15-year-long legal battle that our administration inherited and that we have spent years working hard to resolve in a fair and equitable manner. With our economic recovery and our much-improved fiscal situation, I am very pleased that we are now able to take this historic action.
I want to sincerely thank the presiding officers and legislators on both sides of the aisle for working together to make this possible. With the signing of this important legislation into law, together we are sending a very clear message that we can work together in a bipartisan way to deliver real results and together we are ensuring that any student in Maryland who wishes to pursue a degree will have access to world-class programs and the highest quality institutions for many years to come.
