Olympia
Update No. 10 • March 14, 2007
Deadline
for bills to pass originating house
From: Larry Ganders, Assistant to the President
Printable Adobe PDF Version
House overwhelmingly approves
WSU constitutional
amendment
Substitute
House Joint Resolution 4215 passed the state House of Representatives last week,
easily garnering the necessary two-thirds house majority on a 92-2 vote. The
bill underwent slight amendments that received support from state Treasurer Mike
Murphy and now appears to be vehicle for this legislation in the Senate. The
measure now moves to the state Senate where it could come to a vote in front
of the Senate Ways and Means Committee as early as Thursday. Ways and Means
approved a similar bill earlier in the session.
The
proposed constitutional amendment will allow revenues from Washington State
University trust lands to be partly invested in stocks, rather than just
government bonds. The measures introduced by WSU in each house have received the
support of Joe Dear, of the state Investment Board. The Investment Board manages these
WSU investments.
It is also
supported by the other five state public baccalaureate institutions that include
the University of Washington, Western Washington University, Central Washington
University, Eastern Washington University, and The Evergreen State College.
WSU has
about 150,000 acres of trust lands managed by the state Deparment of Natural
Resources which produce revenues that go into “permanent funds.” Those WSU
funds, which will total more than $360 million by the end of the biennium,
actually lost more than a half percent on bond investments during the last year.
Similar higher education funds in other states that allowed investments in
stocks had returns of six percent to 11.3 percent. Over the last decade, other
states have averaged about two percent better return on the investment than the
Washington funds.
Today
is the final day for bills that do not have budget impact to pass the
originating house.
It is the 66th day of the scheduled 105-day session, slated to end by
April 22. WSU has been tracking more than 140 bills that could impact education
and research. About 50 of those bills died in committee. The list will be pared
down considerably again today with the passing of the deadline. You can view the
list, the bills that are officially alive or dead, bill text and summaries, and
the status of the other legislation at:
http://www.olympia.wsu.edu/Status/Status2007.aspx.
The
next step in the budget process: the full House budget.
House Appropriations Chair Helen Sommers is expected to make public a
proposed House operating budget next week. It is
uncertain how closely the budget for WSU will align with the budget proposed by
the governor and the House Education-Appropriations Subcommittee earlier in the
session. WSU continues to support the governor’s budget. The House subcommittee
maintained the Governor’s funding level for WSU, while adding an additional $4
million to make up much of the difference in funding per student created by a
lower tuition rate for students.
Some key
legislators including Rep. Kelli Linville, and Rep. Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla,
have been working to increase funding for the Unified Agriculture Initiative.
The governor and the House subcommittee funded $3 million of the $10.8 million
request.
Concerns about the
Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center (WSU Mount Vernon):
The House subcommittee budget provided no maintenance and operation funding for
new facilities at WSU Mount Vernon. The Governor’s budget provided just $557,000
of the $734,000 requested by WSU for maintenance and operation of facilities at
Mount Vernon. That was a matter of some concern, however the House subcommittee
budget funded zero. The funding is necessary to provide custodians, utilities,
and building maintenance for new $8 million facilities in Mount Vernon, and
continuing support for existing buildings. Over two million dollars of the $8
million required for recently-completed construction included appropriations
from public agencies (Skagit County, Port of Skagit, and Whatcom County) as well
as private donations (companies, families, and community organizations).
Also next
week, House Capital Budget Chair Bill Fromhold, D-Vancouver, is expected to
release the House version of the WSU construction budget. A hearing has already
been scheduled for Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. The full committee is expected to vote
Thursday. WSU supports the governor’s proposed
capital budget (House Bill 1092) which funds a record $176 million in
construction projects for the university. Buildings funded include the $58
million completion of the four-story Life Sciences Building in Pullman and the
$24.35 million undergraduate classroom building at WSU Vancouver.
In other
developments:
-
Funding for the “Stars” program
has been stripped from Substitute Senate Bill 5090. “Stars” is a $10 million
proposal that could lead to a nationally-ranked bioproducts researcher for
WSU’s system in Tri-Cities.. The bill has passed the Senate 48-0 without
funding on March 7 and could still implement the program with an
appropriation in the budget.
-
Tri-Cities interests continue to work to secure additional enrollment
funding for 110 new freshman enrollment slots, 25 new nursing positions and
10 new electrical engineering positions. The Governor and subcommittee
budgets provided 75 freshman enrollments, five nursing slots, and no
electrical engineering.
-
House Bill 2289, which would transfer responsibility for information
technology from WSU personnel to Olympia-based state administrators, has
been amended to become a study. The bill is currently in the House Rules
Committee.
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
footers please) to: subscribe-olympia_update@listserv.energy.wsu.edu
.
