Olympia
Update No. 6 • March 10, 2008
Initiative 960 Fees Issues, Day 57
From: Larry Ganders,
Assistant to the President
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Legislature may thaw
Initiative 960 fee freeze
Its spring break and there's hope for a thaw in
frozen higher education user fees.
People don’t like fee increases. But legislators are learning they may not like
the ramifications of freezing user fees and spreading the costs to all
taxpayers.
The fees issue went public for the
first time in Olympia during the final week of the legislative session. As we
now move into the 57th day of a scheduled 60-day session, the thaw
has yet to melt away the legislative logjam and WSU has $1.5 million on ice.
Many routine fee increases in higher education and thousands throughout
government cannot occur without approval from the Legislature.
Even though last year’s
biennial state budget provided for 2009 fee increases, a majority vote in each
house is required this year. Those are the terms of Initiative 960, a ballot
measure approved by voters last November. WSU is urging legislators to authorize
routine higher education fees increase in the final supplemental operating
budget bill that is now being negotiated in conference committee.
Among WSU organizations that could be hard hit from legislative inaction
this year is
the Associated Students of Washington State University at all
campuses. ASWSU,
like all the other student governments in the state, relies on student
“Services and Activities Fees” for its funding. While S&A Fees committees have
not set an increase for 2009, it is clear one will be needed, and the state
budget had provided authority for a $640,000 (7 percent) S&A fees increase for
2008 and 2009. The fees support administrative staff that ensure program
delivery and under state budget law, must receive a minimum 2 percent pay
increase this fall. Pullman Transit receives S&A fees funding and are
undoubtedly is counting on a fee increase to pay for higher fuel prices. Child
care programs face increased food costs. Examples of groups funded by S&A fees
also include the Cougar Marching Band, the WSU Graduate and Professional
Students Association, Student Publications including the Daily Evergreen, Health
Advocates, Cable 8, and ASWSU Programming, which provides concerts and other
programs.
There’s been some uncertainty among House legislative leaders over how many
routine fee increases to authorize…and how to do it. Some House leaders
favored an “omnibus fees bill” to accomplish that. Such an omnibus measure
amended to include the fee increases sought by higher education passed the House
Appropriations Committee Friday on a party-line vote. But now House leaders
indicate they will make such changes in the final conference committee version
of the Supplemental Operating Budget, an approach reportedly favored by the
Senate and the governor. Both the Senate and the governor favor granting higher
education the authority to make the routine fee increases that the current
budget authorizes.
In addition to S&A-supported programs, there are other WSU programs that will be
vulnerable without a legislative fees vote including: special courses,
extension courses, workshops and summer session professional courses. The
Initiative applies to new fees as well as fee increases. The new Spokane
Executive MBA Program, already being advertised and accepting student
applications, cannot be provided this fall without fee approval.
Most tuition rates at WSU are not vulnerable, as the WSU Board of Regents set
the 2009 tuition rate well before passage of the initiative.
But some institutions are
much more impacted. The University of Washington, which has not yet set any of
its 2009 tuition, has about $45 million of its budget vulnerable. In addition to
universities, agencies of government, like the Department of Health or the
Department of Agriculture, have a large portion of their budgets reliant on user
fee increases next year. The two-year budgets passed by the Legislature last
year assumed many of those increases and provided for tuition increases in
higher education.
WSU
Student Bargaining Legislation Passes
The agreement between Washington State
University and the United Auto Workers Union for enabling legislation that might
allow WSU graduate teaching and research assistants to collectively bargain has
passed the Legislature.
WSU had opposed the bill when House leaders and the UAW said the bill must
literally duplicate the law on the books for the University of Washington.
However, the union and WSU agreed to changes that were adjudicated by Senate
Labor Chair Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle. The House voted 63-30 to accept the
WSU-UAW compromise and send Substitue House Bill 2963 to Gov. Christine Gregoire
for approval. If signed by the governor, it could set up a campus election to
determine if WSU graduate student employees will pay union dues and collectively
bargain with the university.
Performance Agreements on Governor's Desk
The
long-sought effort to create "performance contracts" or compacts or "agreements"
between the state and public higher education institutions
is headed for the governor's desk. Engrossed House Bill 2641 will pilot a
concept in which six-year agreements are developed between policymakers like the
Legislature and the governor and individual institutions of higher education. On
a 92-1 vote Saturday, the state House of Representatives concurred with
relatively minor changes by the Senate to send the measure to the governor's
desk.
Just four days to go….
There
is still no final budget outcome on authority to raise fees, funding
for WSU’s core computer study or design funds for the Veterinary Medical
Research Building. Engrossed Substitute House Bill 3329, which has passed the
House 94-0, is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.
The bill would require each institution to submit four or more lists of
construction projects to be scored by the governor’s budget office. Normally, at
this stage in the session, a bill must have passed each house in some form to be
considered alive under legislative rules. However, SHB 3329, might fit the
legislative loophole of being a “matter necessary to implement the budget.”
A number of bills, including some that
have already passed the Legislature, are still in doubt until the final budget
is released. Among those:
Substitute House Bill 2582, Student
Child Care,
passed to the governor Saturday when the Senate concurred with House amendments.
The bill is supported by ASWSU and WSU. It creates a new program for the
four-year institutions administered by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Funding required to proportionally distribute funds for each institution based
on the financial support for child care received by ASWSU and other student
governments. But only the budget will determine whether the bill is an
improvement for each institution. The state Senate provided $500,000 for the
four-year institutions while the house provided $325,000.
Senate Bill 6187, the food animal
veterinarians scholarship,
passed to the governor Thursday when the state Senate concurred 46-0 with House
amendments. It was supported by WSU and the Washington Cattleman’s Association.
It had earlier passed the House 94-0. However, the scholarship program is void
if funding is not provided in the supplemental budget.
Substitute Senate Bill 6328, campus
safety and security,
, passed today 41-0 when the Senate concurred with house amendments. The House
had earlier approved the bill 96-0. While it now goes to the governor’s desk,
implementation of actual safety improvements will be up to the budget. It
appears unlikely that the $1.8 million to purchase equipment for warning systems
and key card building access recommended for WSU by the governor will be in the
final budget. The Legislature is considering a study of campus building
“mapping” and an overall state patrol study.
Check Bill Status
As always, you can check the status of bills impacting WSU and get the current
language from the WSU web site, span>
www.olympia.wsu.edu/status.aspx/
For your convenience, bills that are
apparently dead are marked in red while live bills are marked in green.
If you have a friend that wants Olympia Updates, they can sign up at a handy new
web site,
www.olympia.wsu.edu/Update.aspx
Olympia Update is produced for persons interested in state
government developments affecting Washington State University. For more
information, go to
www.olympia.wsu.edu.
Contact: 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 go to
www.olympia.wsu.edu/Update.aspx
