(a) There is established a fund in the State Treasury for higher education institutions of this state which shall be known as the College and Higher Education Excellence and Results (CHEER) Fund. The fund shall be used to provide bonus funding to higher education institutions that meet identified student and institution performance goals and objectives. The fund shall be comprised of all funds appropriated or otherwise made available by the Legislature from whatever source for the purposes of this chapter. All funds appropriated to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education pursuant to Act 2023-378 for outcomes-based funding for 4-year colleges and universities remaining unencumbered on June 1, 2026, shall be transferred to the CHEER Fund and allocated as provided in this chapter. All funds appropriated or made available to the CHEER Fund shall remain in the fund and not revert or be expended for any other purpose other than those set out in this chapter.
(b) Except for funds designated for premier research institutions that certify every five years that external grants and contracts revenues have grown to the chairs of the House Ways and Means Education Committee and Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, which shall be appropriated annually by the Legislature, the fund shall be administered and distributed by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) in accordance with this chapter and the annual Education Trust Fund appropriations act. The commission shall not charge a fee for administration and distribution of the fund.
(c) The bonus funding appropriated pursuant to this chapter is subject to and shall be allocated only in accordance with this chapter or other legislative act and shall be budgeted and allotted in accordance with Article 4, Chapter 4 and Chapter 19 of Title 41. Any monetary interest that accrues to the CHEER Fund shall be retained in the fund from year to year and shall be subject only to this chapter.
(d) An eligible institution shall be eligible to receive annual bonus funding from the CHEER Fund only if:
(1) The eligible institution provides the annual data necessary to measure outcomes, as required by Section 16-5B-6.
(2) The annual data provided by the eligible institution pursuant to Section 16-5B-6 is accurate and has not been manipulated by the institution to generate bonus funding, as determined by the committee in discussion with the individual institutions. An eligible institution shall not receive any portion of its current available funding related to an outcome category with faulty or manipulated data. The committee may also recommend reductions in future available funding to any eligible institution that produces faulty or manipulated data.
(3) The eligible institution is in compliance with Article 6, Chapter 1 of Title 41.
(4) The eligible institution is in compliance with the requirements of Act 2026-597 requiring annual reports regarding the amount of state and federal funds received and expended and plans for dealing with funding reductions.