News & Updates

The 2021 legislative session adjourned tonight after the legislature passed the final 2021-23 operating, capital, and transportation budgets. Despite the unprecedented fiscal and logistical challenges resulting from the pandemic, session ended on time and without the substantial budget cuts anticipated at the outset. The higher education sector saw strong, targeted investments in both the operating and capital budgets.

For the University of Washington, the final compromise budgets do not deviate much from the House and Senate budget proposals released at the end of March. The University’s base budget is maintained without requiring faculty and staff to take mandated furlough days. The operating budget also carries forward funding originally intended to partially fund salary increases in fiscal year 2021 for UW faculty and staff paid by state dollars and tuition revenue.

Major investments for the UW in the operating budgets include:

• $40M over the biennium in one-time funding and $8 million over the biennium in ongoing funding for UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center to support their role as the leading health care provider to Medicaid, Medicare, and uninsured patients across the state and to support their teaching mission;
• $35M in one-time funding in fiscal year 2021 for UW Medical Center from federal relief funds to address lost revenue resulting from the pandemic and given their central role in COVID-19 response efforts;
• $2M biennially for the UW School of Dentistry in ongoing support to sustain their role as the leading oral health care provider to individuals covered by Medicaid and for uninsured patients and to support their training mission;
• $2.29M annually, beginning fiscal year 2023, for the UW School of Medicine program in Spokane for rent and operations of a new, state-of-the-art teaching facility critical for continued accreditation;
• $1.44M annually in maintenance and operations, beginning in fiscal year 2023, for the Health Sciences Education Building in Seattle,which will allow for interdisciplinary team-based learning for the UW’s six health science schools;
• $2.44M over the biennium to continue planned funding ramp-ups for two psychiatry workforce investments, including two child and adolescent psychiatry fellowships and four psychiatry residencies;
• $4M over the biennium for the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Sciences from Workforce Education Investment Account funds to add an additional 100 degrees per year focused on traditionally underrepresented students; and
• A revised One Washington central services funding formula for the University, which significantly reduces assumed payments from the University to fund the state’s new financial system.

The operating budget also included funding for more than 30 provisos and legislation that passed this session.

Major investments in the capital budget for the University include:

• $45.4M for the College of Engineering in Seattle to construct a new interdisciplinary teaching and research facility;
• $36M for UW Tacoma to construct a new business and engineering building using cross-laminated timber;
• $5M for the Magnuson Health Sciences Center to design phase 2 of the renovation and replacement; and
• $200.75M to build a new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Teaching Facility on the campus of UW Medical Center-Northwest.

The final capital budget did not include design funding to plan renovation needs for Anderson Hall in Seattle. Due to high demand for capital dollars, almost every higher education institution had at least one capital budget project that went unfunded.

As a whole, the compromise budgets include solid investments for the University, especially given the significant challenges the state, nation, and world has faced in the past year. The State Relations team sincerely thanks the legislature for the bipartisan collaboration that went into the final compromise budgets and the continued support of the UW.

For a detailed review of the budgets, the UW Office of Planning & Budgeting will post a comprehensive brief on the OPB Briefs page in the coming days.

The Office of State Relations will hold a legislative session recap on Apr. 30 from 1–1:45 p.m. State Relations Director Joe Dacca will share highlights from session, review the compromise budgets, and answer questions. To register for the meeting, click here (UW NetID is required). Due to the expected number of attendees, questions are encouraged to be submitted in advance to extrnaff@uw.edu so Joe can address them in his remarks.

The 2021 legislative session is nearing the finish line with Apr. 25 scheduled to be the last day. The only bills still being considered are those deemed “necessary to implement the budget” or those that need to be reconciled between the chambers. All bills must pass out of both chambers on or before Apr. 25 to be sent to the Governor for consideration.

Since the release of the House and Senate budget proposals earlier this month, legislators in both chambers have been fervently negotiating toward compromise budgets. The compromise budgets are expected to be released next week and will be voted on by both chambers shortly thereafter.

The Office of State Relations will hold a legislative session recap on Apr. 30 from 1–1:45 p.m. State Relations Director Joe Dacca will share highlights from session, review the compromise budgets, and answer questions. To register for the meeting, click here (UW NetID is required). Due to the expected number of attendees, questions are encouraged to be submitted in advance to extrnaff@uw.edu.

Today, the Office of State Relations held a campus-wide legislative session update. State Relations Director Joe Dacca shared the latest news “from” Olympia—including an overview of the House and Senate budget proposals—and answered questions.

As a refresher, the House and Senate budget proposals included solid investments in the higher education sector and the University of Washington alleviating fears of across-the-board cuts resulting from poor 2020 revenue forecasts. For an in-depth overview of the proposed operating and capital budgets, see the UW Office of Planning and Budgeting’s brief on this page.

The most asked question during today’s webinar was whether UW faculty and staff should expect furloughs over the 2021-23 biennium to which Joe enthusiastically responded “no.” Due to the improved revenue forecast and federal support, the House and Senate operating budget proposals maintain the University’s base budget without requiring faculty and staff to take mandated furlough days. The budgets also carry forward funding originally intended to partially support salary increases in Fiscal Year 2021 into the new biennium.

There were also several questions about specific pieces of legislation. The Washington State Legislature website is an excellent resource for information about a bill’s progress through the legislative process, proposed amendments, and available videos to public hearings and executive sessions where the bill is discussed and voted on by legislators. To find the status of current legislation, click here.

Finally, many questions were asked about the status of federal COVID relief funds. The University has received federal relief dollars to support students and help offset the fiscal emergency caused by the ongoing pandemic. To stay up to date on what’s happening at the federal level, visit the UW Office of Federal Relations blog.

The Office of State Relations anticipates legislative session will end on time on April 25 and plans to host a post-session campus update shortly thereafter. In the meantime, stay tuned for updates.