SENATE BUDGET FUNDS RIVERPOINT HEALTH SCIENCES BUILDING
Here are the highlights of the proposed Senate supplemental and operating budget bill (Proposed Substitute Senate Bill 5180), a document compiled under the leadership of Senate Ways and Means Chair Valoria Loveland. WSU supports the Senate budget as the best legislative proposal for higher education this session. It adequately funds student financial aid and enrollments as well. The Senate Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote on the budget this afternoon.
Senate Budget Proposes $36 million Over Six Years To Reimburse WSU`s Agricultural Trust. A 1997 state attorney general`s opinion indicated millions of dollars had been illegally removed by the state Department of Natural Resources from WSU`s agricultural trust. The proposed Senate budget appropriates $20 million this biennium to begin repaying the century-old land grant trust, which provides building construction funds for the university. To complete the terms of a settlement agreement between the governor`s office and WSU Regents, who are the trustees, the Senate proposes $16 million more would be spent by the Legislature over the next six years.
While interest off trust revenues can benefit a diverse number of university construction projects, the Legislature and the governor have linked settlement funds to the Spokane Health Sciences Building at Riverpoint. The Senate proposal is the first legislative budget which outlines a complete plan for reimbursing the trust and allowing the Riverpoint building to move forward. House Republicans provided only $10 million toward this issue. House Democrats provided no funding. Federal law, which existed prior to statehood, forbid the state from taking "management fees" out of trust income. In exchange, the federal government gave lands to the state to benefit what is now Washington State University. But in recent years, DNR has taken up to 25 percent of the trust income as management fees. The Senate also provided $2.6 million for DNR to continue managing WSU lands. House Democrats provided $1.7 million. House Republicans provided $1 million.
Senate Funds Safe Food Initiative. The Senate fully funds the WSU Safe Food Initiative beginning in the second year of the biennium, the year 2000. Senate budget writers delayed implementation one year to give WSU time to hire the necessary faculty and staff for the research program. The Senate also explicitly provides for $500,000 each year of the biennium to benefit the Washington Commission on Pesticide Registration. The Senate funding level matches the proposal earlier this session from House Democrats and exceeds the $2.35 million provided by the governor and House Republicans. The Safe Food Initiative would grow into a $7.5 million/biennium program under the Senate and House Democratic proposals. It would grow to $4.7 million per biennium under the governor`s plan. It would stay at $2.35 million under the House Republican plan.
Senate provides one new research cluster for the Advanced Technology Initiative. The Advanced Technology Initiative was funded at $1 million for WSU, enough funding for one out of the three proposed research clusters in precision agriculture, reproductive biology, and semiconductor technology. The proposal was not recommended by the governor. House Republicans provided $1 million.
Salaries: Senate Provides 3 percent Salary Increases in July, Less Retention Money Than House Democrats Advocate. The Senate proposal matches the House Democrats` base pay increase for all WSU faculty and staff equivalent to 3 percent per year. But unlike the House proposal, the Senate proposal would have salary increases take effect in July. The House budgets delayed the salary increase until September. In further contrast, the Republican budget and the governor provided only a 2 percent increase each year for exempt and classified staff. The university had sought funding to raise salaries by 4.5 percent per year.
House Democrats still have proposed the best "recruitment and retention pool" so far, earmarking $4.65 million to increase salaries selectively for employees WSU is in most risk of losing or needs to recruit. That`s twice the funding level suggested by Republicans and more than three times the funding recommended by the governor. The Senate budget provides for $2.9 million.
Technology: Senate Democrats Double House Levels, Provide Learning Center Funds. Unlike the partisan House budgets, the proposed Senate budget includes $905,000 recommended by the governor for learning centers at Skagit Valley Community College, Walla Walla Community College and Grays Harbor College. The Senate budget also funds $940,000 recommended by the House budgets for the WSU Teaching and Learning Center to support technology-assisted course delivery. The total for this funding is therefore $1.8 million. The governor suggested $3.4 million to accelerate the use of technology-based, cutting edge teaching strategies for learning, both on-campus and off-campus including conversion of up to 200 traditional courses to multi-media or distance learning strategies. The governor`s proposal for an "on-line college" led by WSU appears dead.
House Democrats Provide No Funding for Spokane Health Sciences Consortium. The proposed Senate budget and House Democrats provided no funding for the establishment of a state-wide Health Sciences Consortium in Spokane. Only $750,000 of the $2.1 million request was provided by House Republicans. The governor fully funded this request.
