On Saturday the House of Representatives approved its budget proposal and the North Puget Sound University Center legislation, sending both to the Senate.
Senate Bill 5636 was approved 66-31. It would have WSU assume management of the university center in Everett in 2014 following the completion of an academic plan for the region and the establishment of an engineering program at the facility. Were the Senate to approve the bill with changes made in the House it would go straight to the Governor’s Office to be signed into law.
The budget bill was approved 53-43 after a series of amendments were approved Friday. None of them had any great significance for WSU. You can learn more about the proposal here and about its effects on WSU here.
Leaders in the Senate are expected to roll out their budget proposal this week, possibly tomorrow. But members also are preoccupied with Tuesday’s 5 p.m. cutoff. All bills not necessary to implement the budget must be voted out of the opposite chamber – House bills must have been voted out of the Senate and vice versa. That would leave 12 days for legislators to reconcile differences between versions of bills approved in both chambers before the scheduled adjournment on April 24.