FAMU Pharmacy Phase II and Crestview campus remain top legislative priorities

Florida economists predict that the state could receive an extra $3.5 billion in tax revenue during the fiscal year ending in 2014. FAMU only needs $11,480,000 of that, barely 0.3 percent, in order to fund two budget priorities that are critical to a key research program.

The FAMU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (COPPS) remains one of the university’s top, multi-million dollar research centers. It is leading clinical and laboratory investigations to find solutions to health problems such as cancer, HIV, and “superbug” bacteria.

The university still needs $11.4M to finish up the Pharmacy Phase II building. Without that money, COPPS might be in jeopardy of failing to meet the laboratory and classroom space requirements of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

FAMU also needs the Florida Legislature to reauthorize the operating budget for its Rural Diversity Healthcare Center in Crestview, Fla.

Last year, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $1.5 million that lawmakers appropriated to pay for salaries and other day-to-day costs associated with running the Crestview Education Center. State Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, came to FAMU’s rescue by helping obtain money to temporarily fill the funding gap in order to make sure that the Crestview campus opened in 2012-2013, as scheduled. But this line item must be reauthorized during the upcoming legislative session.

Rattlers need to reach out to their state senators and representatives in order to ask them to support Pharmacy Phase II and the Crestview campus’ operating budget.