A new report out this morning from the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council indicates that tax collections for the past month fell short of expectations by $69.7 million due to an “unexpectedly large” slowdown in economic activity. You can read the report here. The report that really matters, the state’s quarterly revenue forecast, is […]
WSU’s government relations team spent much of this week in Pullman, keeping us away from the blog. And in that time a number of noteworthy happenings occurred. Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a series of bills of great interest to higher education that were approved in the recently completed legislative session. House Bill 1795 gives universities […]
Governor Chris Gregoire told nearly 150 community leaders, students, faculty, staff and others at WSU Vancouver Thursday that the branch campus and university at large are keys to the state’s economic recovery. On campus to tour the Engineering and Computer Science Building –scheduled to open in January 2012 – Gregoire hailed the university’s increasing commitment […]
Governor Chris Gregoire is slated to tour the new Engineering and Computer Science Building at WSU Vancouver Thursday afternoon before a reception with community and business leaders, students, faculty, staff and others. The $38.5 million building is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in January 2012, providing 58,000 square feet of new classroom, […]
Welcome back from the Memorial Day Weekend! On May 18th, First Gentleman Mike Gregoire signed a Memo of Understanding at WSU Tri-Cities designating it as a Veteran Supportive Campus. Due in large part to the services available on campus to veterans, student veterans, and their families, veterans now make up 10 percent of the student […]
Gavels fell on the Legislature’s first special session Wednesday night sending lawmakers home after 135 grueling days. The House and Senate both gave final approval to new two-year operating and capital budgets on the session’s final day. In short, the operating budget cuts $108 million, or 26 percent, from WSU’s state appropriation and provided authorization […]
Dr. Gregory Belenky, director of the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center, testified in front of the U.S. Senate Aviation, Operations, Safety and Security subcommittee yesterday on the importance of sleep and air traffic controllers’ effectiveness on the job. Dr. Belenky shakes hands with WA Senator Maria Cantwell after the hearing. Dr. Belenky (center) discusses […]
The compromise operating budget introduced by legislative leaders and approved by the House Tuesday would cut WSU’s state appropriation by $108 million, or about 26 percent. That represents a slight improvement over proposals earlier put forth by the House and Senate. The net cut would be kept to $39 million, or 5.2 percent, with the […]
The word is out that legislative leaders have reached agreement on an operating budget compromise to close a shortfall of more than $5 billion. All the details are scheduled to be made public at 10 this morning. You can read about it here and here and watch the press conference at TVW.org. You’ll be able […]
After a busy weekend in the statehouse it appears as though the Legislature is progressing toward adjournment. This would come not a week too soon as its 30-day special session is due to expire on Wednesday. You can read more about key developments here and here. There is still a lot of work to be […]