Olympia Update No. 6 ● April 1,
2009
Legislative
Capital Construction Budgets
From: Larry Ganders, Assistant to the President
Click Here for Print-Ready Adobe PDF Version
Click Here for House and Senate budget bills
Senate funds Vancouver
Technology Building
Construction will be
underway this summer on a $43.5 million WSU Vancouver Applied Technology
Classroom Building and a $35 million WSU Pullman Global Animal Health Building
if the capital construction budget proposed by Senate leadership today passes
the Legislature.
Washington State University praised the creativity of the Senate Capital Budget
plan, Proposed Substitute Senate Bill 5222, in testimony before the Senate Ways
and Means Committee today. The total House budget for WSU is $58.1 million. The
Senate’s WSU capital budget, using creative financing, is $115.7 million, just
$5 million less than proposed by Gov. Christine Gregoire. The House proposal
does not fund the WSU Vancouver building, which is WSU’s top priority for the
university system, and provides less funding for the Global Animal Health
Building and less funding for minor works.
The Senate proposal moves two critical WSU buildings to design stage,
positioning them to be constructed just two years from now. Those projects
include $4.34 million in design funds for the Riverpoint Biomedical and Health
Sciences Building, which is expected to be an approximately $45 million WSU
building in Spokane that will also house research programs for Eastern
Washington University. It also provides alternative financing for a $7.4 million
design of the Veterinary Medical Research Building in Pullman. Construction
costs for the Veterinary Medical Research Building are estimated to be $88
million. Design funds for the Riverpoint Biomedical building and the Veterinary
Medical Research building are not funded by the House
(Proposed Substitute House Bill 1216).
The news on construction budgets came on the heels of bleak operating budget
announcements this week that threaten to slash funding to WSU by 20 to 29
percent and reduce enrollments at WSU and other institutions. “Monday we heard
about the sad budget, so today we introduced the happy budget,” said Senate
Capital Chair Karen Fraser, D-Olympia.
“This is the more optimistic part of the process,” said Senate Majority Leader
Lisa Brown, D-Spokane.
The Senate funded the Vancouver and Riverpoint buildings using state
bond authority that is typical in a legislative capital budget. But
with more than $700 million in capital funds shifted to fill gaps in the
operating budget, the Legislature is left with less funding than the governor
had in December.
The Senate used a creative financing method to allow additional
projects to move forward including immediate construction of the Global Animal
Health Building and design of the Veterinary Medical Research Building. This
financing plan bonds university trust land revenues and building fees paid by
students with tuition.
The $3.3 billion Senate-proposed state capital budget is about $1.3 billion less
than the current statewide budget. About $1 billion of the spending is in higher
education, where the senators indicated that the research university projects
were particularly targeted to quickly boost economic development and create an
estimated 25,000 jobs.
Minor Works
The Senate and the House provide funding at the governor’s $27.6 million level
for critical minor works preservation projects. These are projects that repair
and renew older facilities such as replacing leaky roofs and installing
fire-suppression systems. The Senate also funds minor works program levels at
$17.5 million, about $3 million less than the governor. This funding allows the
university to make improvements such as re-sizing classrooms or providing access
to disabled persons. The House proposal provides just $9 million for these
programmatic projects.
The 56,000-square foot
four-story Vancouver Applied Technology Classroom Building
funded by the Senate is the highest capital priority for the entire WSU system.
The teaching and research facility will meet some of the most pressing
employment needs of Southwest Washington and the entire state, focusing on
computer science and electrical engineering. The building includes specialized
laboratories and classrooms to serve students in computer science and
engineering that are in high demand by the state’s technology industries. It is
not funded by the House.
Most of the cost of
the WSU Global Animal Health Building, Phase I,
is funded on a $25 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The
building houses the research component of WSU’s new “School for Global Animal
Health.” A priority academic program for the university, the school is dedicated
to providing innovative solutions to global infectious diseases in humans. It
does that by researching health problems in animals that are spread to humans.
More than 80 percent of human diseases originate from animals. It originally was
not proposed by WSU for state funding. But as an economic stimulus move, the
university requested $10 million in state funding so that construction of the
$35 million building could begin immediately -- when the Eastern Washington
economy needs it most. The Senate budget funds the $10 million requested. The
House budget provides $6 million. The House also provides $200,000 for
pre-design of a companion diagnostic building scheduled for construction in 2013
that was recommended governor. The Senate did not fund any pre-designs.
The Veterinary Medical Research Building,
funded by the Senate for design, will provide critical research space for
neuroscience, cardiac muscle and bioengineering research and education. It is
WSU’s second highest construction priority. There are 35-40 faculty biomedical
researchers to be moved out of old, crowded space along with approximately 200
graduate students, post-docs and technicians that participate in research. The
faculty are among the most successful and productive scientists at WSU. The
project was not funded by the House.
The 86,000-square-foot
Riverpoint Biomedical & Health Sciences Building
supports programs related to medical education, including
Pharmacy, in Spokane. WSU initially requested pre-design funds for the building but the
Senate accelerates the project to design phase. Space in the building will also
be shared with Eastern Washington University. Design funding is provided by the
Senate with regular state bonding authority next biennium to allow for
construction in 2011-2013. Funding was not provided by the House.
For the status of bill affecting WSU
-
http://www.olympia.wsu.edu/Status/2009_Shortlist_Mar24.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
