Olympia Update No
Olympia
Update No. 11 • March 19, 2007
House
capital budget proposal released
From: Larry Ganders, Assistant to the President
Printable Adobe PDF Version
House chair proposes
$180 million
construction budget for university
A $58
million appropriation to complete construction of the WSU Life Sciences Building
in Pullman, $29 million in new funding for the WSU Vancouver campus, and $59
million in critical dollars to improve and preserve existing facilities are
winning approval in the House.
Those
were the highlights of a record $180.6 million WSU construction budget released
today by House Capital Chairman Bill Fromhold, D-Vancouver, and strongly
supported by the university.
The Life
Sciences building is one of the larger projects in the proposed state budget but
the WSU construction budget for the next two years may be more unique for the critical
issues it addresses on existing buildings and facilities. In addition to $59
million for improvement and preservation of existing buildings, the House budget
provides $26.5 million for projects that improve electrical, water and sewer
delivery to university facilities.
It is the
first major legislative budget that has been released by a full committee chair
in this legislative session, and as WSU had urged, it closely followed the
priorities of Gov. Christine Gregoire’s budget released last December.
The only
disappointment in the budget was that it did not fund the design for the
Biomedical Building in Pullman, a research building that was slated to be under
construction in 2009-2011 but may now be delayed as it has not been funded by
the governor or House.
Each of
the projects recommended by the governor
are included in the proposed House Capital Budget Committee budget announced by
Fromhold. Assisting Fromhold with the announcement of the $4.2 billion state
construction budget was the ranking Republican Capital Chair, Rep. Joyce
McDonald, R-Puyallup. McDonald said minority Republicans had some differences
but she generally praised the budget as as “investment budget.” She indicated
her priorities were in K-12 education and higher education.
Both the
governor and House proposals would provide funding for WSU to complete the
Pullman Life Sciences Building, extend the life of existing older structures,
protect the lives of students and employees, provide for vital infrastructure
and build a needed classroom building for the burgeoning Vancouver campus.
There was
one significant difference between the governor’s budget and the proposed House
substitute. The House budget would fund $4.7 million to design a Vancouver
Applied Technology Classroom Building, perhaps accelerating construction to
2009-2011.
It is a
capital budget that is good for all of education.
K-12 schools, once a small part of the construction budget, received a record
$879.4 million in school construction assistance. Higher Education projects
totaled $1.08 billion. Fromhold indicated his higher education priorities were
new enrollment and preservation of existing buildings, particularly at the
University of Washington, Washington State University, and at community and
technical colleges.
Highlights
of the proposed construction budget now under consideration in the House as
Proposed Substitute House Bill 1092 include:
·
Construction of the $24.4 million WSU Vancouver classroom building
is necessary to provide general classrooms and computer laboratory spaces for
delivery of lower division programs and to accommodate enrollment growth. The
building is WSU’s second highest priority for new building construction.
·
WSU’s $38.9 million minor works preservation
project and $17 million minor works program is in the top tier of the Public
Baccalaureate Prioritized List, ahead of all major construction projects, and
fully funded by the House & governor budgets.
Minor works program money extends the life of existing facilities and
infrastructure, and allows older facilities to be retrofitted for cutting-edge
research and education. Likewise, preservation money extends the life of
buildings by replacement or repair of elevators, roofs, fire alarms,
ventilation, pumps, masonry, windows, flooring, painting, and building network
cabling and electronics. The funding covers health, safety and code projects
needed to protect the lives of students, faculty, staff and visitors and to
comply with occupational/public health, and environmental regulations.
·
The Pullman Campus is experiencing a critical shortfall in electrical
capacity and a deficit of chilled water production that is solved with an
$11.5 million utilities extension in both budgets.
This
package is ranked as the fourth project overall by the six public baccalaureate
institutions.
·
Extended service life and greater capacity to
underground utility lines is provided by the $15 million Library Road Project.
It is the seventh ranked project overall by the institutions. The corridor project also includes accessibility and
safety improvements for enhanced pedestrian movement and decreased vehicular
traffic.
As the House proposal winds its way through the
committee system and onto the House floor, the Senate is expected to be about a
week out with a proposal of its own.
Olympia Update is produced for persons interested in state
government developments affecting Washington State University. For more
information call: Larry Ganders, Assistant to the President, 360-956-2165. From
WSU campuses, dial 8-2165. If you wish to subscribe to Olympia Update directly
by email, send a blank message from your e-mail account (no signatures or
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