January 8, 2009
UW to focus on limiting losses in tough 2009 legislative season
With state budget challenges mounting and revenue numbers extremely uncertain, the UW will focus on minimizing state funding losses in the 2009 legislative season, Randy Hodgins, director of state relations, told UW officials in a pre-session briefing Wednesday.
The state Legislature will convene a 105-day session on Monday, Jan. 12, facing a projected budget deficit of $5 billion to $6 billion, which Hodgins said may yet rise.
“In many respects the agenda that the University of Washington put together this summer for the operating budget and the capital budget in particular is — really not our active agenda anymore,” said Hodgins, who is also serving as interim vice president of the Office of External Affairs. “We’ve moved for the most part to a defensive posture, at least as it pertains to the state operating budget.”
Hodgins said the UW for the time being has “moved away from advocating specific enhancements” toward attempting to lessen state funding reductions proposed in the Governor’s budget.
He said, “The UW hasn’t seen this level of state funds reductions since the early 1980s.” But of course Washington is not alone in such challenges, he said. “Other states are in abject misery, too.”
Funding for two major construction projects — renovations to Denny Hall and to Balmer Hall — were not included in the budget submitted by Gov. Gregoire to the Legislature. But Hodgins said the UW will seek to get funding for at least one and perhaps both of these projects back into the budget if possible.
There is the possibility, however, of a state-level stimulus package to provide immediate money for what are termed “shovel-ready” projects that get people working right away, and this could include the planned new Molecular Engineering Building.
Hodgins said that though Gov. Gregoire faced criticism for counting federal assistance in her budget, there will likely be a significant federal stimulus package to provide help to the states. Even that assistance, however, will probably not be enough to stave off “deep reductions” or some type of revenue increases.
And as if the current news were not bad enough, he said the March revenue forecast “could plummet as deeply as in November,” partly due to poor Christmas-season sales.
“The operating budget situation is very cloudy,” he said. Legislators are waiting for the March report, “because they don’t know how much worse things are going to get.”
He said policy legislation will be the area in which the UW tries to make some headway in this session.
Two bills lead in this effort, he said. One would provide protection for certain private investment information related to how the University invests its endowment funds . The other would broaden the alternatives available for managing capital projects funded by non-state revenues. Both are somewhat controversial and may be difficult to pass, he said, but they represent a way the Legislature might be able to help the UW in an otherwise difficult year.
With many new members of the Legislature beginning work in Olympia this year, and others who have known only “good times” in their tenure, Hodgins said, it may take the lawmakers several weeks to determine their true course.
“It is as dire as you read,” he said, “and nobody knows what the end game looks like.”
