Olympia Update No
Olympia
Update No 3 for the 2006 Session • December 20, 2005
From: Larry Ganders, Assistant to the President
Good
news for biotechnology:
Governor endorses
WSU Life Sciences Building
Gov. Christine Gregoire today recommended
that the university be granted authority to build the $63 million Life Sciences
building on the Pullman campus. “I
actually asked for it last year … we found an alternate way,” the governor said
in her press conference announcing her 2006-2007 supplemental budget package.
Her supplemental capital budget adopted the plan suggested by the university to
use interest from WSU’s trust lands fund to retire state-issued bonds for the
building. The elegant proposal, fashioned by WSU Vice President Greg Royer and
Budget Director Karl Boehmke, takes the project out of competition with other
state-funded buildings and does not count toward the Legislature’s debt limit.
“I believe one of the most
targeted industries the state of Washington has to offer is research and
innovation,” said Gregoire. She said that is why she supported a “Life Sciences
Discovery Fund” last year. The fund, paid by anticipated tobacco settlement
dollars, could make research dollars in the health sciences available for
scientists that will occupy the proposed Life Sciences Building. But Gregoire
acknowledged that many of the biomedical research laboratories in the building
also collaborate with agriculture. “Lane Rawlins has stepped up, he is doing a
terrific job as president,” Gregoire added. Gregoire noted Rawlins is “ready to
do the kind of research and innovation that will allow us to build an economy
that is second to none.” Gregoire continued, “that’s going to help us with our
alternative fuels…So all of this is the single greatest investment we
can make,” she said.
The governor’s proposal
to build the Life Sciences building, the second building in a Pullman
biotechnology complex, now goes to the state Legislature which convenes Jan. 9.
Support in the Legislature
for the proposal is growing but Senate and House leaders have been more reserved
than many of the other members. House Capital Budget Chair Hans Dunshee,
D-Snohomish, told the Spokane Chamber of Commerce forum last week that he was
still considering the proposal. A Senate committee is considering holding a hearing on
the issue on Jan. 17 in Olympia.
There was more good news
on biotechnology in the supplemental operating budget. The governor proposed $1
million to fund the administration of the Life Sciences Discovery Fund
headed by Lee Huntsman, the former interim president of the University of
Washington. The funding will allow the group private fundraising capacity to get
the fund off the ground. The governor said the proposal has already seen a
greater response from private donors than anticipated, “so I have asked for
money to get that going.”
All of the emphasis on
research will help Washington “reinvent itself” to stay competitive in the
global economy,” she said.
Governor provides money
to UW and WSU for permanent staffing for the UW-WSU “Policy Consensus Center.”
The center, already with offices at UW and WSU, is overseen by an advisory board
chaired by William Ruckelshaus. The Consensus center attempts to provide a
neutral forum for discussion of issues and seeks to marshal resources and
research that could lead to collaborative problem-solving by interests that can
not otherwise find agreement.
A lean supplemental
budget with targeted investments. The
governor noted the broad swing in state revenue that has occurred since she
became governor. Just about a year ago, the state was facing an estimated $2.2
billion shortfall. Now, aided by a boom in home sales, the supplemental budget
is facing a $1.4 billion reserve. But the governor said the dangers of revenue
swings means that she decided to put $904 million of the $1.4 billion into
emergency reserves, an economic stability account, pension stabilization and
unrestricted reserves. She said she was proud of the biennial budget passed this
year by the Legislature and intended to only make relatively small tune-ups in
the supplemental budget to be considered by the upcoming Legislature.
Much of the remaining
funding went to “technical corrections” or “required spending” for areas like
human services caseload increases and K-12 enrollment.
The governor put some
funding in for schools and universities that were facing increased costs of
energy to heat their building or fuel their vehicles.
WSU’s share of that supplemental budget allocation by the governor was $913,000.
She made “targeted investments” to make the state more “energy independent”
including a $17.5 million bioenergy fund. The state Department of Ecology and
Washington State University received $225,000 to partner on research into
markets, products and potential for bioenergy development. Specific work,
according to the governor’s budget notes, will include a pilot project to
convert solid waste to biogas through anerobic digestion and to work with
biomass. The source of the funding is the state toxics control account.
The governor’s remaining
“targeted investments” were made in areas like improving early learning for
pre-school kids, assistance in helping struggling high school students meet
graduation rates, and enabling some community colleges to offer four-year degree
programs. These strategies by the governor left many budget requests unfunded,
including some proposed by WSU that sill appear to be live issues in the 2006
Legislature:
- Not funded by the
governor was a coordinated technology transfer program that would identify
and facilitate the movement of new research discoveries into the private
sector where they can be developed by private businesses and assist in
economic development. If the Legislature provides funding, UW and WSU intend
to hire staff to work within selected academic programs to link with
industrial needs. Some funding is requested to carry research that is too
applied for academic funding yet not developed enough to attract industry
investment. The total WSU share of these requests for technology transfer
is about $350,000.
- Not funded by the
governor was $800,000 in supplemental funds to hire the necessary personnel
for the “Ag Weathernet” system. The 2005 Legislature appropriated funds for
WSU to fund upgrade and expand a system of weather-data stations from 65 to
135 sites throughout the state of Washington. However, no funds were
appropriated for the meteorologist and technicians to actually operate this
new equipment.
- Not recommended by the
governor was $800,000 for a Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic
Farming request know as “BioAg.” Some legislators urged WSU to put
forward a formal request on “BioAg,” and secure the first state
appropriation for the “WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural
Resources.” Created by the Legislature years ago - but never explicitly
funded - this academic center works on biological approaches to farming with
natural systems. WSU is requesting $800,000 total in this area.
Olympia
Updates will be moving to a listserv distribution method for 2006. You will be
getting some e-mail messages about that soon. For more information call: Larry
Ganders, Assistant to the President, 360-956-2165. From WSU campuses, dial
8-2165 or Laurel le Noble, Administrative Coordinator, 360-956-2025.
