Capital Construction Budget
Olympia Update No.
8 for the 2004 Legislative Session
March 16, 2004
From: Larry Ganders,
Assistant to the President
925 Plum St. SE - Building 4, P.O. Box 43165, Olympia, WA 98504-3165
Capital Construction Budget – Funding Spokane
Academic Center
Passes Overwhelmingly on Final Day
of 2004 Legislative Session
A
capital construction budget for higher education, including $31.6 million
for the Spokane Academic Center, was kicked out of the Washington Legislature on
what was an overwhelming vote on the last day of the 2004 legislative
session.
Observing
the capital budget progress this session was a bit like watching a mule wander
down the trail. There were frequent pauses and sometimes a good deal of hee-haws
and snorting in committee and caucuses. There were groans that the mid-biennium
pack was weighted down with too many higher education projects. There were
rumors that there may be no new construction budget. But the ultimate popularity
of the projects that were funded in final House-Senate compromise and the need
to adjourn on the 60th day of session provided the necessary slap to
get the construction budget plodding with resolve out of the Legislature to Gov.
Gary Locke’s desk.
Caucuses
that had labored over the details, often involving WSU projects, were now
grinning with praise for the results. The House approved the budget 82-14 (with
nearly two-thirds of minority Republicans joining most Democrats to vote yes)
while the 49 members of the Senate unanimously passed the proposal.
The
focus now turns to the governor’s office. There were staff rumblings that Gov.
Locke was poring over the Academic Center project before he takes final action
on the budget late this month or early April. However, the building does appear
to be very consistent with the governor’s commitment to education, providing
space for an additional 800 students in Spokane, many in the high-demand health
sciences fields that the governor has historically supported.
It also is a major
legislative accomplishment for some of the governor’s legislative supporters in
Eastern Washington: Senate Minority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane; Rep. Timm
Ormsby, D-Spokane, and Rep. Alex Wood, D-Spokane. While there were some
objections from a small number of Seattle House Democrats, the proposal also
enjoyed broad bi-partisan support in the legislative process. Spokane Mayor Jim
West; Sen. Brian Murray, R-Spokane; Rep. Brad Benson, R-Spokane; Sen. Larry
Sheahan, R-Rosalia; and Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Colville, were other Inland
Northwest Republicans that were among the key supporters of the Academic Center.
In addition to the Academic Center,
the capital budget provided $3.4 million in state funding for the first phase of
the Pullman Wastewater Reclamation Project.
Other projects funded included $337,000 for emergency repairs at the Spokane
Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute; $4 million in classroom
improvements at the University of Washington, a new freeway off-ramp at UW
Bothell, an $8.1 million renovation of Senior Hall at Eastern Washington
University, $4.9 million for a Central Washington University higher education
center near SeaTac; and $2 million for a Health Sciences Center at Columbia
Basin College. Funding for WSUNet, included in the Senate budget, was not
provided in the final compromise.
Puyallup Lands Issue Settled in Late House-Senate
Capital Compromise, No changes at Buckley A
university proposal to sell about 40 acres adjacent to Washington State
University’s Puyallup research and extension station was reconciled in the final
hours of the legislative session with a compromise that WSU supported. The
compromise is contained in the supplemental capital budget, Engrossed Substitute
House Bill 2573, which passed the Legislature and now is awaiting final
signature from Gov. Gary Locke.
The budget provides that WSU will retain
22 acres of pasture adjacent to the station campus for agricultural research
purposes. Under the agreement, WSU will keep ownership of the property for the
foreseeable future and at least initially, continue to do agricultural research
at the site. In exchange, WSU is given authority to sell the balance of the
property, with proceeds to the Puyallup station, and will receive an additional
$500,000 that can be invested in research stations.
WSU had logged part of the
property and was preparing to sell all 40 acres with proceeds going to make
needed facility improvements in the station. The issue was the last resolved
between the House and the Senate as they pushed toward adjournment Thursday
night. Just a day earlier, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a package that
included WSU receiving formal ownership in 160 acres of 750 acres it controls at
the former Buckley Dairy. Senate Ways and Means Chairman Joe Zarelli,
R-Ridgefield, said the proposal would have worked if the remaining 590 acres of
property at Buckley was transferred to a trust to benefit the developmentally
disabled. However, the bill creating the trust was killed in the state House of
Representatives causing Senate Republicans to reject the negotiated budget
solution.
So the final budget solution
hammered out by House Capital Budget Chair Hans Dunshee, Zarelli, and Sen. Mike
Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, dealt only with the Puyallup property. The outcome means
that 750 acres of timber and agricultural lands at Buckley will remain under the
control of WSU for the coming near.
Private Institutions Given Authority to Apply for
Public Enrollment Dollars The supplemental operating budget (ESHB
2459) contains a provision that allows private higher education institutions to
apply for publicly-funded enrollment slots. The Legislature once again provided
an additional $3.6 million to fund 324 new students in the state at about
$11,000 per student. Public institutions have traditionally competed for such
funding but the budget stipulates – for the first time - that independent
colleges and universities may also apply.
Public institutions are raising
concerns about whether it is appropriate to expand the pool to other schools
when thousands of public students are currently enrolled at the universities
without any funding. In addition to the budget, permanent authority of the
Higher Education Coordinating Board to award funding to private institutions was
added by the Senate through Substitute House Bill 3103.
