Federal and State Policy Change Updates

Dear Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students,

I hope that you had a good, long weekend after a long academic year and have managed to stay relatively dry and safe this week amid the severe weather. With the state’s regular legislative session ending on Monday, we have quite a few state updates to provide on bills moving through the process, in addition to some federal updates that also impact our university.

Student Visa Updates

We are aware of recent reports that the State Department has discussed temporarily pausing new student visa applications and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a statement regarding revoking visas for Chinese students.  At this point, we have not received any direct guidance from the State Department, but we are continuing to advise students to follow the normal visa application process and are monitoring this closely. We understand these policy changes create uncertainty for our international community, and we encourage the entire university community to support our valued international students and scholars. As a reminder, resources are available to international students and scholars through the International Student and Scholar Services team, and resources for international faculty and staff are available through Immigration Affairs.

Executive Order on “Gold Standard Science”

On May 23, President Trump issued a new executive order, “Restoring Gold Standard Science,” which instructs that within 30 days, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall issue guidance for agencies on implementation of “Gold Standard Science” in the conduct and management of their respective scientific activities. The order describes “Gold Standard Science” as science conducted in a manner that is “reproducible; transparent; communicative of error and uncertainty; collaborative and interdisciplinary; skeptical of its findings and assumptions; structured for falsifiability of hypotheses; subject to unbiased peer review; accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and without conflicts of interest.” The order has other stipulations, and we are analyzing this language as well as awaiting further guidance from agencies. We will keep you informed on how these new changes may impact research.

Terminations and Stop Work Orders

We’ve mentioned weekly that we are continuing to monitor terminations and stop work orders while supporting principal investigators (PI) affected by them. As of Monday, May 26, across Texas A&M University, including projects overseen by Texas A&M Health, AgriLife Research and Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, we have a total of 22 stop work orders and 83 terminations, totaling $165 million in lost funding. It’s important to remember that this is just a snapshot in time and continues to be a fluid situation. We know the impact on individual projects is difficult, and we remain committed to the pursuit of great research and supporting those who lead it. We will continue to monitor and support PIs who are impacted by terminations or stop work orders. If you have an affected project or are concerned about a project on which you’re currently working, please reach out Sponsored Research Services at cstratta@tamu.edu.

State Legislative Updates

Only three days remain in the regular state legislative session before sine die (the last day of session), and several of the bills we have been tracking have moved forward quickly in the final steps of the process.

Earlier this week, Senate Bill 1, the General Appropriations Act was released along with House Bill 500, the supplemental appropriations bill for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027.  We are fully analyzing the budget but can confirm Institutional Enhancement funding was included and an additional $20 million was added to the formula in the flagship’s base budget. That additional $20 million comes alongside new funding appropriated specifically for the Vet Emergency Team ($2.5 million a year), Hollingsworth Leadership Program ($617,000 a year) and Corps of Cadets Uniform Funding ($3 million a year). We will share a comprehensive update on the entire FY26 budget process for the university in the coming months.

Legislation is moving quickly at this point. Below are updates on legislation that may be of most interest to you (as of 2:30 p.m. today, May 30):

• Senate Bill 17, which creates prohibitions on landownership in Texas by certain foreign entities and individuals, was adopted by both chambers and will be sent to the governor for signature. The Texas A&M University System is closely reviewing the final legislation to provide guidance to the university on how it may impact our international community.
• Senate Bill 37, which would change governance structures at universities related to curriculum decisions and faculty senates, passed out of the House on May 25, went to a conference committee on May 28 and was approved by its committee members on May 29. Lawmakers have until Sunday to vote to adopt the report in both chambers. We are monitoring this legislation closely and remain engaged in meaningful conversations with lawmakers about implementation.
• Senate Bill 2615, related to remote work policies for employees of public institutions of higher education, was voted out of the House on May 28. The Senate will either concur with amendments or call for a conference committee.
• House Bill 5196, related to telework policies for state employees, was voted out of the Senate on May 28. It will soon be sent to the governor for signature. This bill defines the authorization of telework as an agreement between the administrative head of a state agency and an employee in order to address a lack of office space and provide reasonable flexibility in achieving the organization’s mission. The bill requires agencies to adopt an agency telework plan and publish it publicly.
• Senate Bill 2972, related to expressive activities at public institutions of higher education, passed out of the House on May 28. The Senate has refused to concur with the House amendments, and a conference committee has been established to work through the final bill text.