The Washington state Legislature opened a new session today.
Throughout the 60-day session current budget information will be available from the Office of Planning and Budgeting via OPBlog . Check here for updates.
Information about UW and our legislative message can be found on the Office of External Affairs site.
Curious about what it means to adopt a bill? Or what “bumping” means? How about the hopper?
Check out the TNT’s guide to the Washington legislature’s lingo.
State Senator Margarita Prentice (D, 11th District) confirmed that she will not seek re-election in 2012. Prentice has served in the state senate for 20 years – this is her fifth term.
Read more from the Renton Reporter and PubliCola.
We invite you to enjoy our year-end video, which celebrates 150 years of innovation and creativity and demonstrates our spirit of hope for the future.
The UW’s state funding has been cut 50 percent in the past three years. The UW External Affairs staff has prepared a series of documents to help people understand what the cuts mean and why higher education funding needs to be a real priority in the next state budget.
On Dec. 6, UW President Michael Young named Ana Mari Cauce the UW’s new provost, effective Jan.2. She is dean of our College of Arts & Sciences. Read President Young’s message to the UW community here.
Did you know, the state of Washington had 3,640,468 registered voters as of Oct. 5, 2011? That’s according to the Secretary of State’s Office, which reports that there are a number of statewide and local issues on ballots across the state for the Nov. 8 General Election.
A number of resources are available to help voters learn about issues and cast their ballots. One such resource is the non-partisan and non-profit Living Voters Guide, which bills itself as the state’s “citizen-powered voters guide.” You can read, write and discuss issues, and build your own pro and con list using the LVG.
Other election resources include:
Please visit the Secretary of State’s Election Page for more info and resources.
The state’s five public universities and The Evergreen State College will set their own undergraduate tuition under a bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday and is expected to be signed by the governor. Read the Seattle Times story.
Legislators appear to have reached agreement on allowing the state’s public universities to set undergraduate resident tuition for the next four years. The bill, House Bill 1795, also would permit institutions to charge more for higher-cost degree programs.
With the legislative houses several hundred million dollars apart on a final biennial budget, and the official end of the session coming this week, a special session is all but certain. Dozens of important fiscal and policy bills also await action. Read an update from Olympia here.