Three of WSU’s priority bills concerning regulatory reform for the university have passed through the Senate and will now move to the House. Senate Bill 5576 to give the university more freedom over the use of its building fees passed on Saturday, while Senate Bill 6468 and Senate Joint Resolution 8223 regarding the investment of […]
The presidents of Washington’s six four-year public baccalaureate institutions co-authored a column in The News Tribune Sunday highlighting the progress our universities have made given economic hardship, and the Legislature’s important role in allowing us to do so. You can read the column here. Addressing the study by the University of Pennsylvania, which criticized the […]
House Bill 2422 concerning the production of aviation biofuels passed out of the House last night on an 86-11 vote. The bill is a spinoff from the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest project, of which WSU was one of six sponsoring organizations. The group also brought in Boeing, Alaska Airlines, the ports of Seattle and Portland, […]
The state’s Caseload Forecast Council issued a new report today indicating demand for some state services is falling short of expectations, which could reduce the state’s budget shortfall by some $200 million. The Seattle Times has the story here. That’s the first sign of good budget news in months. Even as economic indicators have pointed […]
With both houses of the Legislature now meeting for daylong and evening floor sessions, the higher education community’s regulatory reform agenda remains largely intact. House Bill 2585 and Senate Bill 6401 are the largest measures. Each seek to ease restrictions on business practices relating to procurement, travel, direct deposit and advance purchasing of maintenance agreements. […]
The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday heard a pair of measures that would amend the state’s constitution and allow WSU greater flexibility to invest certain carry forward operating funds. You can view WSU’s testimony below. Senate Joint Resolution 8223 requires a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature and approval by voters. […]
About 400 turned out to a town hall event Wednesday night hosted by the Seattle Times that decried dwindling state support for higher education. All six presidents from the state’s public baccalaureate institutions were on hand to outline the funding crisis facing the system and its impacts on students and their families. Most notably, as […]
The House Labor and Workforce Development Committee heard and advanced a bill Friday morning that would dedicate a portion of future growth in state revenues to higher education. House Bill 2265 also would establish an incentive fund of sorts that would reward universities for strong performance. Check out WSU’s testimony on the bill below.
Urging lawmakers to prevent further cuts to higher education yesterday, six members of the WSU Board of Regents joined regents and trustees from the other state’s colleges to meet with higher education committee members from the House and the Senate. You can find more details here as reported by the Seattle Times. To deal with […]
Gavels fall at noon today for the beginning of what figures to be a fever pitched legislative session. You can read more about it here. The overriding issue of the session centers around plugging the remaining hole in the state budget. After some $480 million in savings were identified during the recent special session, there […]