Dear Colleagues: First a quick update on the status of the COVID package – The Republican and Democratic leadership of the House and Senate met at 4:30 p.m. today and are scheduled to meet again at 7pm today. In addition, there are rumors that Speaker Pelosi and Leader McConnell will keep Congress in session until […]
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council adopted an updated state economic and revenue forecast this morning, which the governor will use to write his 2021-23 operating budget proposal in mid-December. The revenue report improved the bottom line by $634 million in the current biennium and $328 million in the next biennium. A press release from […]
We recognize many of you are monitoring the recent Notice of Proposed Rule Making out on the Duration of Stay for international students. The deadline for comments was October 26th and we know that WSU sent comments in via International Programs. As background there are many letters circulating form Capitol Hill signed by the Washington […]
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire 25 year career in higher education” remarked Jaime Nolan in response to the inequities the COVID pandemic has brought to light among students in higher education. Nolan, WSU Associate Vice President of Human Relations and Diversity, presented yesterday in a virtual work session for the Senate Higher […]
We are anticipating that the House, with an agreement or not, will vote on a version of the HEROES 2 Bill today. Unless the White House and Senate Republicans reach an agreement with House Democrats, it is very likely that any resolution of this will be punted to post election and potentially next year. The $2.2 […]
Septmeber 22, 2020 As you know, we are reaching the end of the federal fiscal year in DC and in what seems to be a familiar story, we are heading toward a stopgap funding bill or a continuing resolution (“CR”) to fund the government. The plan up until yesterday morning was that this funding package […]
Washington State University this month submitted operating and capital budget proposals to the state’s Office of Financial Management that reflect the onset of a recession. The submission is highlighted by an operating budget decision package modeling the impact of a 15 percent reduction in overall appropriation required of all agencies. With the onset of the […]
The state’s operating budget deficit was cut in half Wednesday when a new report improved the outlook for the rest of the current fiscal year and the two-year budget cycle set to begin July 1. The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council improved the bottom line in the current biennium by $2.2 billion and by $2.4 […]
WSU faculty specializing in cannabis research this week told a legislative panel their wide-ranging portfolio is dependent upon collaboration with outside stakeholders. In a virtual work session before the state House of Representative’s Commerce & Gaming Committee, researchers Michael McDonnell, Ryan McLaughlin, Dr. Celestina Barbosa-Leiker provided legislators just a sample of the university’s cannabis research […]
The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council today produced its first official projection of state revenues since the onset of the COVID recession. An earlier unofficial projection of a decline in tax collections of $7 billion through June 30, 2023 has been revised to $8.8 billion in the quarterly revenue review. Of that, $4.5 billion […]