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Viticulture, enology bill signed into law

Governor Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1563 into law this afternoon, enacting legislation that will allow students under 21 enrolled in viticulture and enology programs at four-year universities to taste, but not consume wine as part of their educational experiences outside of the classroom. The law will now include grape-growing areas and wine production facilities […]

Governor signs university research bill

Governor Jay Inslee this morning signed a bill that will cut red tape for university research efforts. Senate Bill 5786 was supported by WSU. It removes higher education institutions from state laws governing the release of public records for research to protect individuals’ privacy rights. These laws were written before the implementation of a series […]

Senate sends student-led health sciences training bill to governor

Legislation that would enhance training opportunities for health science students passed unanimously out of the Senate today with a vote of 48-0. HB 1726 is a student-led bill put forward by a group of WSU College of Pharmacy students seeking to widen the scope of possible preceptors allowed to supervise students performing basic medical care […]

Viticulture, enology bill headed to Governor’s desk

Today the Senate approved legislation that would allow students under 21 enrolled in viticulture and enology programs at four-year universities to taste, but not consume wine as part of their educational experiences outside of the classroom. With the backing of WSU, HB 1563 would include vineyards and wineries as allowable places for supervised students to […]

UPDATED: Senate releases operating budget proposal

Leaders in the state Senate today introduced their operating budget proposal that, like the House of Representatives’ plan unveiled earlier, partially funds WSU’s request to support the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. WSU requested $14.4 million over the two-year budget cycle and both budgets, like the governor’s, provide $10.8 million over 2019-21 budget cycle. […]

Senate capital budget hits sweet spot for WSU

The capital budget proposal unveiled in the state Senate this morning funds most of WSU’s top priorities. The governor’s proposal was released in December and the House proposal was introduced Monday. Negotiators will now work to hammer out a compromise to send to the governor’s office. Here’s a rundown of where things stand. The university’s […]

WADDL, WSU Tri-Cities funded in House capital budget plan

Capital budget writers in the state House of Representatives today unveiled a proposal that fully funds WSU’s two construction priorities — the $36.4 million to complete the Global Animal Health II project in Pullman and $27 million to construct a new academic building at WSU Tri-Cities. Partial funding was provided by the Legislature last year […]

House operating budget partially funds medical school

The operating budget proposal unveiled today by leaders in the state House of Representatives partially funds WSU’s top priority by providing $10.8 million in core funding for the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine over the 2019-21 biennium. That would complete funding for the medical school’s original annual cohorts of 60. But it did not […]

Key state revenue forecast shows further improvement

The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council this morning delivered a quarterly report that increases anticipated tax collections for the remainder of the 2017-19 budget cycle and the new one that begins July 1 by $860 million. That brings anticipated revenues for the 2019-21 biennium to $50.56 billion, or 9.6 percent higher than in 2017-19. […]

Collections up again in advance of key revenue forecast

Tax collections over the past month once again outperformed expectations, delivering a bit of good news leading up to Wednesday’s quarterly revenue forecast that legislative leaders will use to write their budget proposals this spring. Since the November forecast used by Gov. Jay Inslee to write his proposal, collections are up $171.9 million, or 2.6 […]