January 26, 2006
Higher ed issues in legislature overshadowed by WASL
The Washington State Senate will announce its supplemental budget proposal for the remainder of the 2005-07 biennium on Feb. 15. Until then, the discussions in the Capitol hallways, in caucuses and on the floor are likely to be dominated by one issue: The Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).
“Right now, legislators seem preoccupied by what to do about the WASL,” says UW Director of State Relations Randy Hodgins. “While higher education is of interest to some legislators, it is not the dominant issue at this time.”
With a revenue forecast due in a few weeks that is likely to confirm another uptick in state revenues, a tug-of-war is likely to ensue between legislators who wish to spend more and Gov. Gregoire, who wants to hold more money in reserve. “There are some legislators, led by Rep. Helen Sommers (D-36), who might be inclined to invest more in higher education,” Hodgins says. “But those views will need to gain prominence as Democrats attempt to adopt a unified strategy for the next budget among both houses and the Governor.”
A number of bills have already been filed that could affect the University. One of concern, sponsored by Rep. Dan Kristiansen (R-39), would require all higher education institutions to set aside at least 10 percent of all tuition waivers for military veterans. As drafted, the bill could require universities to lower their overall number of tuition waivers to meet the 10 percent figure if not enough veterans apply. “We don’t think this is the outcome that Rep. Kristiansen intended,” Hodgins says, “so we’ll be talking with him about fixing the language.”
Rep. Jeff Morris (D-40) has filed a bill to create fellowships for graduate students in science and technology. The current version of the bill contains no money.
Rep. Mike Sells (D-38) has filed a bill that would establish requirements for the number of degrees in mathematics, science and technology that would be granted each year. “While we are supportive of the concept of increasing degrees in these areas, it’s not clear if the bill will come with additional funding or if institutions would need to rearrange their own budgets to achieve the new degree targets,” Hodgins says.
One bill requested by the city of Tacoma could be troublesome for the University. It would absolve cities from any liability for dealing with pollution problems under the state Model Toxics Control Act if the city owned the polluting right-of-way. Part of the footprint for future UW Tacoma expansion includes land that the city owns and that the UW believes is polluted. The cleanup of this area has been the subject of ongoing discussions between UWT and the city.
UW student lobbyists have requested a bill that would modify the terms of the student regent so that the terms overlap in June. Right now, the term of office of the student regent ends June 1, and the new student regent, attending his or her very first meeting, is greeted with a vote on the UW budget proposal. This bill has met with no opposition in Olympia.
Although no bill has been filed on universities’ responsibility for extending the student conduct code beyond campus boundaries, there is still time for such a bill to surface as it has in previous legislative sessions. On a related subject, a bill sponsored by Sen. Ken Jacobsen (D-46) and Sen. Pat Thibaudeau (D-43) would require all universities to inspect off campus housing, whether owned by the institution or not. It’s not clear from the language how institutions would acquire such inspection authority, or what would qualify as “student housing.”
