House Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas, is worried that the 2013 legislative session could become a repeat of 2011, when his agenda was overshadowed by tension between university system regents, academic leaders, and lawmakers over questions of governance and reforms.

The situation became so heated that a special oversight committee was formed to hold public hearings on the way higher education institutions in the state were governed, and how reforms were being implemented.

Nearly two years later, Branch said he believed the controversies had subsided. He pointed to signs of progress, such as the public, data-rich websites that a ...

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