EL PASO, Texas—The University of Texas System Board of Regents will meet behind closed doors in El Paso today to talk about personnel at The University of Texas Medical Branch, where thousands of employees have been enduring an agonizing limbo as they await word about layoffs. But it was not clear from the agenda whether the regents will talk about layoffs.

According to the agenda, regents will talk about “individual personnel matters relating to the appointment, employment, evaluation, compensation, assignment and duties” of medical branch employees in closed session. They are not scheduled to take any action, according to the agenda, but they could make an announcement anyway.

When asked if layoffs would be announced, Anthony DeBruyn, regents spokesman, said: “It’s premature to discuss what may or may not occur.”

It’s been widely speculated that medical branch officials would announce a decision on layoffs after the Nov. 4 election. State Rep. Craig Eiland, who has been critical of the response of UT regents after the storm, said it’s time to know what their intentions are for the medical branch.

“We need some idea to go forward,” he said.

The county’s largest employer incurred $710 million in Hurricane-Ike related expenses and has been struggling to sustain a $70 million monthly payroll since the Category 2 storm slammed into Galveston on Sept. 13, knocking out the medical branch’s major revenue streams, including the 550-bed John Sealy Hospital.

Lawmakers last month stepped in to stop UT System officials from laying of 4,000 employees, some whose homes had been severely damaged by the hurricane, but they have yet to commit any money.

The medical branch, home to the state’s oldest medical school, continues to pay employees who aren’t working, but medical branch President Dr. David Callender has said that it couldn’t do so indefinitely.

Even before the storm the medical branch, long charged with caring for the state’s indigent, struggled to stay in the black. Lawmakers each legislative session have been unwilling to fully fund care for the state’s uninsured and underinsured, which costs the medical branch about $120 million a year. Despite efforts to slash costs, the medical branch faced a $35 million deficit before the hurricane.

The medical branch is counting on state lawmakers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to offer relief. Regents on Thursday will consider approving $47.7 million in emergency funding to the medical branch to repair and renovate buildings damaged in the hurricane. FEMA is expected to reimburse the medical branch part of that cost, if not all, within a year.