Olympia Updates

SENATE ADOPTS HEC BOARD PLAN TO PUT MORE WSU PROGRAMS IN DOWNTOWN SPOKANE (SSB 6717)
In a move that will lead to many more WSU research and instruction programs for downtown Spokane, the Washington State Senate voted today 28-21 for legislation implementing many of the recommendations that were unanimously adopted by the state Higher Education Coordinating Board Friday. Substitute Senate Bill 6717, drafted by Senate Ways and Means Chairman Jim West, R-Spokane, and Sen. Gene Prince, R-Thornton last month, already included many of the provisions recommended by the coordinating board. The bill eliminates the Spokane Joint Center for Higher Education and requires WSU to administer some of the Riverpoint higher education park. Today - on the floor of the state Senate - West and Prince took many of the details of the HEC Board report and incorporated it into the bill before passage by the full Senate. It is one of the most striking examples of influence by the HEC Board in the Legislature since branch campuses were created in the 1980s.

Here are some of the highlights of the final amended bill that passed the Senate today and will soon be considered by the House Higher Education Committee:

-- WSU, in cooperation with EWU and other institutions, is assigned ultimate responsibility for providing public upper-division and graduate level higher education programs to the citizens of Spokane under the rules or guidelines adopted by the HEC Board, beginning Jan. 1, 1999. This is similar to the statutory responsibility that WSU has for coordinating programs in Tri-Cities and Vancouver.

-- The Spokane Joint Center for Higher Education is eliminated. The regulatory board has prevented many WSU programs from being delivered to Spokane and has functioned as a sort of local "HEC Board" and landlord for Riverpoint property and buildings.

-- Academic programs may be delivered by public institutions to the Spokane area, including by EWU and WSU, if the programs are approved by the state-wide HEC Board.

-- On July 1, 1998, WSU will assume business management of the Riverpoint Higher Education Park excluding the building and property housing the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute. All Riverpoint property is currently managed by the Joint Center. While WSU is the manager of the Riverpoint property excluding SIRTI, it will continue to share those facilities with other institutions including Eastern Washington University. The legislation explicitly states the assumption that that EWU students will continue to pay EWU tuition rates at Riverpoint.

-- It is intended that most public university courses in Spokane will be offered at the Riverpoint campus, eventually moving programs out of WSU Spokane's Farm Credit building space and EWU's Spokane center. WSU is to develop a plan for management of the Riverpoint area by Dec. 1. The HEC Board will develop a plan for the EWU building by Dec. 1.

-- The Higher Education Coordinating Board will manage assessments of higher education resources and economic development needs for Spokane and submit a final report of those assessments to the appropriate legislative committees by October 1, 1998. The assessment shall be made on the basis of input from Spokane civic and business leaders and include an analysis of transformation of the economic base toward industries paying higher wages, and an evaluation of basic and applied research needs. The governor's budget office, the state Department of Employment Security and the Department of Community Trade and Economic Development, are asked to assist with the assessment.

--WSU shall submit a plan by Dec. 31 to establish an Intercollegiate Center for Applied Health Sciences. The center is to replace but be modeled after the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education. The plan must utilize a model, like ICNE, which utilizes WSU instructors but emphasizes collaboration and partnerships with other institutions like EWU, Gonzaga, and Whitworth College. The bill stipulates that programs offered at Eastern Washington University in physical therapy, communication disorders, nursing and dental hygiene shall continue to be offered by EWU.

-- The bill makes no changes to the governance of the higher education institutions. While early proposals suggested the merger of EWU and WSU programs, this legislation continues WSU and EWU as separately-governed institutions.

-- A related Senate-passed SIRTI bill (SSB 6655) will create a new state agency. SIRTI would be governed through a board of business and education leaders. This is the only substantive difference that the Senate has with the HEC Board recommendations. The HEC Board recommended that SIRTI land, buildings and programs be incorporated into WSU.

WASHINGTON LEGISLATURE HONORS WSU FOOTBALL TEAM FOR ITS 'ROSE BOWL' SEASON
WSU Defensive Lineman Dorian Boose and Assistant Head Coach Larry Lewis were both present in the galleries Monday when the state House of Representatives and the state Senate each passed resolutions honoring the 1997-98 Cougar football team. Legislators said Boose, a 6'6' 282-pound senior, was the perfect ambassador for WSU athletics. Lewis and Boose were invited into the House majority caucus room to meet legislators and have their pictures taken by legislative photographers. "Go Cougars," concluded Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen as he dropped the gavel and declared that the Senate resolution sponsored by Sen. Gene Prince, R-Thornton, had passed.