Leadership from WSU campuses in Vancouver and Everett spent time in Olympia this week advocating for top WSU legislative priorities. Chancellors Mel Netzhammer of WSU Vancouver and Paul Pitre of WSU Everett met with legislators from their respective areas of the state to brief them on the university’s legislative request to establish a supply chain management major on their campuses, in addition to other university priorities.
Conversations with legislators and the state’s recent flat tax collections figures suggest that new spending will be limited in budget recommendations from the Senate and House, which are coming in mid-February. This was the case in the governor’s budget, which was released last month but did not contain WSU’s request for the supply chain management major. On Valentine’s Day, a revenue forecast will be released, informing budget writers of the amount available to be spent.
Despite the economic outlook, the fragile supply chain sector continues to have great demand for qualified professionals with over 40,000 job postings in Washington last year. Netzhammer and Pitre spent time articulating to their local lawmakers how their students can help address the high demand for these workers through the program.
The chancellors also took time to update legislators on a first collective bargaining agreement that was agreed to earlier this month with newly organized academic student employees, which WSU is seeking legislative funding for.
The state Legislature is nearing the midway point of this short 60-day session as day 26 concludes. Lawmakers are slated to work the weekend to move the constellation of bills that survived the policy committee cutoff last Wednesday, ahead of the next fiscal committee cutoff deadline on Monday.