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Federal Farm Bill

Federal Farm Bill discussions are beginning throughout the nation and in Washington State.  See this Seattle Times article for information on the debate of farm subsidies and federal spending cuts.

State reserve accounts fall again

The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council this morning adopted a new projection of tax collections that dropped anticipated reserve accounts from about $730 million to just $163 million. This comes not even a day after the governor signed the state’s new two year budget into law. You can find the forecast here. If there […]

Governor signs operating, capital budgets

Gov. Chris Gregoire yesterday afternoon signed into law the operating and capital budgets approved by the Legislature last month. TVW live blogged the event and you can read about the governor’s comments here. There were no major surprises for WSU in the veto messages for either bill. You can check out a breakdown of what […]

Tax collections fall by $70 million

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 […]

Recapping a busy week

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: WSU Vancouver ‘part of the heart of the community’

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 to visit WSU Vancouver

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, […]

First Gentleman visits WSU Tri-Cities

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 […]

Legislature adopts budgets, adjourns for the year

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 […]

WSU Sleep Researcher Testifies Before Congress

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 […]