Negotiations built last-minute compromise on med school

Jared Janes, The Monitor

AUSTIN — Standing together as an entire delegation, the Rio Grande Valley’s House members pushed through a compromise Friday that would finally establish the region’s long sought medical school and a super university.

The House voted unanimously to adopt a compromise amendment drafted by the Valley’s legislators that lays out a detailed blueprint for the new university and medical school, ending strife that erupted over whether Hidalgo County should be the primary site for the medical school. With the proposal’s Senate sponsors already announcing their intent to support the compromise, the bill will be sent to Gov. Rick Perry after perfunctory actions that remain in both chambers.

While the bill garnered early support from both ends of the Valley, the region’s unity nearly broke down over the location of the medical school — a fight that has lingered since the creation of the school’s precursor in the late 1990s.

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