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 […]
The Legislature put the finishing touches on its special session and adjourned sine die this afternoon, sending a $480 million early savings bill to the governor. As was reported earlier, it contained no general cuts to higher education and left the most difficult choices for the 2012 regular session. That 60-day session is scheduled to […]
Anyone hoping for good news out of today’s monthly report of tax collections didn’t get it. Collections over the past month are largely flat. Collections are actually up by $19.7 million but only due to the timing of property tax payments, not economic factors. Without that factor, collections would have been down by $14.2 million. […]
The House and Senate have released details of the early cuts legislation will consider starting today and they contain no general cuts for higher education. You can find details here. Both bills will be heard this afternoon in the House and Senate. If either were to be approved it would save $480 million through administrative […]
The Legislature convened its special session on Monday and got right to work. That’s especially true in the House, where the Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on the governor’s proposed budget for seven hours. It’s worth noting that, on the eve of the session’s first day, two major newspapers editorialized in favor of maintaining […]
A budget proposal issued by Gov. Chris Gregoire today would cut Washington State University’s state appropriation by 17 percent in the second year of the biennium. But a separate revenue package, if approved by voters, would buy it all back. You can find the budget proposal here and the revenue proposal here. President Elson S. […]