REP. TOM HUFF CREDITED WITH HOUSE PASSAGE OF DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORSHIP
LEGISLATION
The sudden change by the state House of Representatives yesterday to
support Senate Bill 6727 was triggered by the chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee, Rep. Tom Huff, R-Gig Harbor. The result is a "dead bill" that
sprang to life like the Phoenix on a 98-0 vote to recede from House amendments
that sent the measure to the governor's desk. If signed, it will create
a permanent source of funding for creating new matching endowments that
will improve the quality of higher education. Perhaps best known as the
"distinguished professorship" program, where a private donor puts up $250,000,
matched by state money, to create a permanent endowment to support the
research and instruction activities of a professor. Another is graduate
fellowships, providing critical funding for graduate students to pursue
study and research. In addition to funding these two programs for the four-year
public institutions, the bill also provides money for the "exceptional
faculty awards" for the Community and Technical Colleges. The source of
the funding -- as proposed by Senate Ways and Means Chairman Jim West --
is the "Education Savings Account," which captures a portion of unexpended
state agency appropriations. State law allows state agencies to carry over
half of their unexpended appropriations with the other half deposited into
the account. Huff maintained through much of the legislative session that
the account should be used exclusively for K-12 funding. And there were
concerns in the House that public university fundraising was adversely
impacting private institutions. He gutted the bill in his House Appropriations
committee and rendered it useless to higher education. But by allowing
the bill out of the House in some form, he left open the possibility of
a conference committee to work out some sort of funding plan for these
programs. Senators found little room for negotiation and insisted on their
version of the bill Tuesday, a move that most observers believed was sure
to kill the bill. At this critical juncture, Huff changed his mind and
the House unanimously approved the Senate version. Huff offers no explanations.
"Sometimes I do things for higher education," he said. Under the terms
of the bill, 10 percent of the balance in the "Education Savings Account"
will go to these endowment programs. The fund is estimated to total about
$50 million at the end of this fiscal year, making about $5 million available
in the coming months under the terms of the bill. Since the bill earmarks
50 percent for distinguished professorships, we are estimating that the
HEC Board will have about $2.5 million to distribute among six institutions.
WSU's traditional share of that funding would create 2-4 new professorships.
HOUSE AND SENATE NEGOTIATORS AGREE TO A COMPROMISE SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET
Agreement was reached on a supplemental operating budget that was
filed at 1 a.m. this morning. Here are the highlights of the compromise
budget that adjusts the Washington State University biennial budget upward
by $4.5 million:
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The budget transfers $590,000 to WSU to assume business management of the
Spokane Riverpoint Higher Education campus. That is $90,000 less than the
Senate budget and was not addressed in the House budget.
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Funding proposed by the Senate for $100,000 for workload increases at the
WSU Fish Disease Diagnostic Laboratory were included.
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The negotiators rejected a special Spokane pilot program for WSU non-resident
waivers. Waivers for Eastern Washington University were retained.
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One-time funding of $250,000 is appropriated to the Higher Education Coordinating
Board to conduct studies in Spokane concerning the level of higher education
services, quantity, completeness, affordability, and economic impact.
These items, which were not in dispute, were also included in the final
budget:
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$3.25 million for WSU legal costs and settlements.
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Revised enrollment targets requested by WSU for 1998-99 that results in
a $2.65 million reduction.
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Funding to UW for development of Internet 2.
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$810,000 to the state Higher Education Coordinating Board for completion
of the Cooperative Library Network.
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$1.3 million for a prepaid tuition program through the Higher Education
Coordinating Board.
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$10 million to state government for conversion of computer systems to accommodate
dates after the year 2000.
DAIRY NUTRIENT BILL - Substitute Senate Bill 6161
Washington State University will play a role in legislation designed
to better handle manure from dairies to protect the state's water resources.
The Dept of Ecology, The WA Conservation Commission and Conservation Districts
are charged with administration of the law. WSU faculty will be involved
in four dairy nutrient management technical assistance teams, one team
in each of 4 regions of the state. The purpose of the teams is to (1) actively
develop and promote new cost-effective approaches for managing dairy nutrients;
and (2) assist dairy farms in developing dairy nutrient management plans.
In addition, each team is required to develop one or more initial sets
of standards and specifications to assist dairy producers in developing
and implementing dairy nutrient management plans. Standards and specifications
shall be appropriate to the soils and other conditions within a geographic
area for which the `team` is responsible. No appropriation has been made
to WSU to carry out these added responsibilities.
