GOVERNOR VETOES WSU TRUST LANDS BILL –
STATE WILL CONTINUE IMPROPER FEES
Washington State University expressed
disappointment this week that Gov. Gary Locke vetoed House Bill
1418, legislation which was to end the improper practice by the
state Department of Natural Resources of charging management fees
to WSU’s agricultural trust. The veto means that improper
fees will continue to be charged to the trust, fees which in
recent years have totaled well over $1 million per year. Interest
from the trust is used to fund WSU construction projects.
The state attorney general issued a formal
opinion last August that indicated DNR’s practice of
charging up to 25 percent management fees violated the
century-old federal Morrill Act. The opinion also criticized the
practice of "pooling" by DNR, that is combining all of
the state’s trust lands for the purposes of management and
collecting fees, etc. The Governor surprised WSU by vetoing all
provisions of the bill which would have brought the state into
compliance with federal land grant act. In his May 19 veto
message made available to WSU Wednesday, the Governor wrote,
"It is with great regret that I veto this legislation.
However, if this legislation were signed, DNR would not have any
funding to carry out management of these trust lands. Although I
have vetoed this legislation I am committed to working with
Washington State University, DNR, and the legislature to develop
a long-term funding source for managing the agricultural college
trust. For this reason I have vetoed Substitute House Bill 1418
in its entirety."
Ironically, the Governor does not seem to
dispute the point that collecting fees from the WSU trust is
illegal under federal law. The Governor wrote, "Substitute
House Bill No. 1418 would bring state law into compliance with
the federal Morrill Act by dedicating all of the revenue from the
state agricultural college lands to this federally granted
trust." However, without a state law forbidding the DNR from
collecting these fees, or some type of action by the courts, DNR
has said it will continue to collect these fees from the WSU
trust. The Governor complained that the Legislature did not
appropriate necessary funds in the budget to cover the costs of
managing the trust. However, legislative leaders and the
Governor’s budget office said DNR did not request such
funds.
House Bill 1418 provided that the Board of
Natural Resources should determine the amount necessary to manage
the WSU lands and "shall bill the state of Washington for
this amount." Legislators said the bill submitted could be a
topic for the 1998 Legislature to consider. "The state may
choose the fund source to use to pay this cost, provided that the
funds represent moneys from the treasury of the state," the
vetoed legislation stated.
GOVERNOR SIGNS STATE OPERATING BUDGET
Gov. Gary Locke signed the state operating
budget Wednesday, the final step toward implementing WSU’s
$459.5 million 1997-99 budget. In signing the final budget, the
Governor sent a strong message to the Legislature that he did not
approve of their plan for imposing financial penalties on
universities for under-enrolling students at campuses like
Pullman. The Governor vetoed section 602 (2) of the budget in
which the Governor said the Legislature "stated its intent
to penalize higher education institutions for falling as little
as one full-time equivalent (FTE) student below the FTE
enrollments assumed in the 1997-99 Operating Budget on July
1." The Governor said, "exceptions are allowed only for
Eastern Washington University and branch campuses." The
Governor said, "I fully support the expectation that
institutions will operate productively and efficiently."
Locke noted that he also supported a sanction for enrollment
under budget targets. However, "sanctions for under
enrollment should occur only if enrollment is below a target
range from budgeted levels, not for each single FTE."
"Moreover, the Governor added, "if the Legislature does
intend to impose a fiscal penalty for under enrollment, more
precise parameters will need to be specified, including the data
sources and threshold dates used to calculate enrollment and the
dollar sanction per under enrolled FTE…Therefore, I have
vetoed this section because it represents an unworkable approach
to addressing the issue of under enrollment."
Summary notes of legislation affecting WSU
in the 1997 legislative session are available on the web at: http://www.wsu.edu/IR/wsulegis/legnotes/97legind.htm.
