GOMBOSKY AMENDMENT FAILS; BILL FOR MORE WSU SPOKANE PROGRAMS CLEARS
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS
Substitute Senate Bill 6655, which would implement many state Higher
Education Coordinating Board recommendations, cleared a crucial hurdle
Saturday night - keeping alive hopes that WSU may soon offer more educational
programs at the Spokane. The influential House Appropriations Committee
approved the Legislation 19-12 in a vote that included both the chairman
and the ranking Democrat among the supporters. The committee rejected an
amendment by Rep. Jeff Gombosky, D-Spokane, that effectively would have
prevented any new WSU Spokane programs. The central provision of the legislation,
which has already passed the state Senate, is that the Spokane Joint Center
for Higher Education will be eliminated and that the HEC Board will be
responsible for Spokane programs. The Joint Center is a separate state
agency with 34 employees (16 of them administrators) that manages two Riverpoint
higher education buildings and has been a barrier to WSU providing 29 new
programs in the Spokane area including a bachelor's in engineering, a doctor
of education, a master of science in computer science, a master of accounting,
a master in teaching, etc. Master's programs in English, mathematics, chemistry,
political science, early childhood education, adult and continuing education,
and environmental science have all been eliminated for acceptance by the
Joint Center. With abolition of the Joint Center, the state Higher Education
Coordinating Board is given exclusive authority to accept or reject new
program offerings for Spokane. That is authority that the HEC Board has
for the rest of the state of Washington. The Gombosky amendment would have
continued the joint center and left only study provisions in the bill.
It failed on a voice vote.
House Higher Education Chairman Don Carlson, R-Vancouver, spoke strongly
for the bill in committee. Other supporters included Rep. Helen Sommers,
D-Seattle, the ranking Democrat on the committee, and Rep. Bill Grant,
D-Walla Walla. Spokane lawmakers, Rep. Larry Crouse and Brad Benson, voted
for the legislation. WSU President Sam Smith traveled to Olympia Saturday
to testify for the legislation along with WSU Regent Dick Albrecht. ASWSU
President Neil Walker was also in Olympia Saturday lobbying for the legislation.
President Smith cited numerous examples of cooperation between WSU and
other Spokane institutions and reaffirmed that the university would continue
to work with Gonzaga University, Whitworth College and EWU. Albrecht testified
that much of the public discussion about the bill in Spokane has been inaccurate.
The bill does not mandate what institution offers programs in Spokane or
where the programs should be located. Eastern Washington University criticized
the bill as "premature." The favorable Appropriations vote means the bill
will now go the House Rules Committee, where it could be assigned for a
vote before the full House. If the bill passes the House, it will be necessary
to work out differences from the original bill that passed the state Senate
written by Senate Ways and Means Chairman Jim West, R-Spokane, and Sen.
Gene Prince, R-Thornton. Substantial changes were made in the House earlier
by Rep. Larry Sheahan, R-Rosalia.
ENDOWMENT LEGISLATION PASSES THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE -
Substitute Senate Bill 6242.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Huff, R-Gig Harbor, made some changes
to the Higher Education Endowment bill in committee Saturday but continued
provisions that could one day lead to matching funding for distinguished
professorships and graduate fellowships at Washington State University.
The state's four-year public institutions and the 32 community colleges
support the endowment bill, which so far has received no state funding
in legislative budget proposals. The original Senate-passed bill would
have set up an endowment trust fund. Interest on the fund could be matched
by private donors and used for a wide variety of student and research-oriented
higher education programs. The Huff amendments deleted language allowing
the earnings for any purpose except graduate fellowships, exceptional community
college faculty awards or distinguished professorships. While the bill
provides no funding, future legislatures could provide monies to start
the endowment. Senate-passed legislation which could have immediately provided
some funding for WSU and other higher education institutions for distinguished
professorships, Senate Bill 6727, was heavily amended by the House
Appropriations Committee Saturday, making it effectively unusable for WSU.
WSU continues to support the Senate version of SB 6727.
LEGISLATION FUNDING THE WSU REAL ESTATE CENTER CONTINUES TO FIND
SUCCESS - Senate Bill 6396.
Legislation sought by WSU and the Washington Association of Realtors,
Senate Bill 6396, passed unanimously out of the House Appropriations Committee
Saturday evening. Perhaps most significantly, the committee added no amendments,
which means passage by the Rules Committee and the full House this week
could send the legislation to Gov. Gary Locke. The bill would impose a
fee amounting to $5 per year on real estate licensees to support the program,
which among other things, prepares the state's "Affordable Housing Index"
which measures the gap between income levels and home prices in areas of
the state.
HOUSE BUDGET TO BE RELEASED TODAY - TRUST LANDS AND K-20 IN DOUBT
Final opportunities to secure funding for new electronic classrooms
in Colville, Puyallup, North Seattle, and Wenatchee may hinge on the release
of the House supplemental operating and capital budgets today. The Senate
released a budget last week which did not fund classroom electronics or
K-20 enhancements recommended by the governor. The governor's recommendation
to fund management of WSU's agricultural trust lands also was not in the
Senate budget and requires a House recommendation today to stay alive.
