News & Updates

State general fund revenue collections are projected to drop another $760 million in the current biennium based on the new forecast of tax collections adopted by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council in Olympia just minutes ago.

According to the Office of Financial Management OFM), the projected budget deficit facing the Governor and state legislature as they craft the 2010 supplemental budget is expected to be $2.6 billion.  The cumulative budget shortfall for the biennium is now $11.6 billion — almost a third of the current biennial budget according to OFM.

Dr. Arun Raha, the state’s chief revenue forecaster, said that while the economy is improving, much of the impetus has come from spending by the federal government rather than consumer spending.  Today’s forecast adjustment is a reflection of a revised estimate of when Washingtonians will regain the confidence to spend on goods and services that are subject to state taxes.

The Governor’s 2010 supplemental budget proposal is expected to be released in early December.  By law, she is required to submit a balanced budget within available revenues.  The Governor did indicate today that all options are now on the table.

Dear Colleagues:

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Margaret Shepherd as the University’s new Director of State Relations. Margaret has worked in Olympia for the past few years as the policy analyst on capital budget and transportation issues for the Washington State Senate Democratic Caucus. In this key position, she helped develop and manage the caucus’s legislative agenda, advising members and Senate leadership on a range of complex policy, budget, and political issues. She also has worked for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a Seattle nonprofit community development financial institution. Margaret is respected on both sides of the aisle for her thoughtful analysis, hard work and abundant energy. She brings a fresh perspective and new face to our representation in Olympia, and I am delighted she will be heading our presence there.

Margaret earned her B.A. in public affairs from Seattle University and is completing her master’s in public administration this December, also from Seattle University. She starts December 1 and will get out to meet many of you as quickly as possible prior to the start of the 2010 legislative session in January. Please join me in welcoming her to this position.

State Senator Fred Jarrett (D-Mercer Island) was chosen today as the new Deputy King County Executive by Dow Constantine who defeated Susan Hutchinson last week for the right to fill out the unexpired term of former county executive Ron Sims.  Here’s the story from the Seattle Times.

Jarrett, who made his own unsuccessful run for the county executive position in the August primary has served in the state legislature since 2001, including four terms in the House of Representatives.  He ran successfully for the Senate in 2008 and has been the Vice Chair of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee.  Jarrett has a long history of interest in higher education issues, prime sponsoring the “performance agreement” legislation which passed in 2008.

Jarrett’s appoint will take effect on November 24th when Constantine will assume his new County Executive position.  Democratic precinct officers will submit the names of three candidates to replace him in the state Senate to the King County Council which makes the final decision.

Exactly a week since the November 3 election and I’m now just getting around to discussing the state issues of importance but that’s still the occupational hazard of holding down two jobs.  Things are moving forward with the  process of hiring a new Director of State Relations and I hope to have some information to share in the next week or so.

By now you know the results of the statewide measures.  Initiative 1033 which would have imposed a cap on state and local property tax revenues was defeated, and Referendum 71, which has been termed the “everything but marriage” measure related to domestic partnerships was passed.

There were, however, three special elections for state representatives which were the result of the recent death of two members and the resignation of another.  First, in the 16th district, appointed incumbent Laura Grant-Herriott (D) was defeated by Terry Nealey (R) to fill out the term of Rep. Bill Grant (D) who died last winter.  Grant-Herriott was the daughter of the late House Democratic Caucus Chair.  Second, in the 9th district, Republican Susan Fagen defeated Pat Hailey (R) for the seat previously held by Rep. Steve Hailey who also passed away last year.  Former Representative Don Cox (R) held the seat during the 2009 session but decided not to run this November to fill the unexpired term.  Finally, in the 15th district, Representative David Taylor (R) defeated Democratic challenger John Gotts in the race to fill the unexpired term of former Representative Dan Newhouse who was appointed director of the state Department of Agriculture last winter.

The net result of the three state House races is that the Democratic majority dropped by one seat from 62-36 to 61-37.

I recently received a chart from the Council of President’s (COP) office that kind of left me speechless. No matter how close you are to budget issues, etc. it’s important every now and then to take a look at the bigger picture. The problem in this case, is that the bigger picture is pretty depressing.

If you wanted one image that was illustrative of the state of higher education in Washington State today, this chart from the COP would be my nominee.  What it shows is that during the past decade, while “overall” state budget funding for higher education has increased, when you look at the three major sectors of higher education — community colleges, Higher Education Coordinating Board (mostly financial aid), and four year institutions — state funding has actually decreased for the public baccalaureates during this time compared to increases for two year schools (28%) and student financial aid (102%).

If anyone is wondering why Washington lags the rest of the nation in the production of baccalaureate and graduate and professional degrees, despite having one of the most efficient and productive four year systems in the nation, I think the answer may lie in the old adage “you get what you pay for.”

It’s two weeks to election day, I’ve got way too many dead leaves on my lawn and it’s cold at night. Must be the beginning of another budget season in Olympia.

While the Governor’s supplemental budget is not due until the middle of December, given the state’s looming budget shortfall (estimate range from $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion), Office of Financial Management staff must surely be hard at work developing another round of difficult budget reduction ideas for the Governor’s consideration.

Today in Olympia, the Governor met with what’s left of the capitol press corps and thankfully, The Olympian’s Brad Shannon was there to write about it.  Here’s a post from his blog that provides a glimpse into the difficulties of finding savings in the state budget.

Rep. Reuven Carlyle has now posted two extremely thought provoking posts on his blog about the future of higher education in the state — what’s wrong, what needs to change, and how to make things better. Anyone who cares about higher education funding and our relationship with state government should take the time to read his thoughts. It’s not often that an elected official will speak so frankly and passionately in this type of forum.

Here’s the link to his blog.

The United Faculty of Washington which represents faculty at the four-year regional universities has recently debuted a new higher education blog.

The most recent post discusses why Washington citizens are at a disadvantage in the competition for the state’s best jobs.

Governor Gregoire has chosen a replacement for Cindy Zehnder who announced in August her plans to step down as chief of staff in the Governor’s office.  Jay Manning, who has been serving as director of the Department of Ecology will replace Zehnder effective October 19.

Manning has lead the Department of Ecology since February 2005.  He previously worked as an attorney in private practice and is also a former assistant attorney general.  He’s a Washington native who earned a B.A. in political science from Eastern Washington University and a law degree from the University of Oregon.

Here’s the official announcement from the Governor’s office.

During legislative debate on tuition increases this past session, the state’s public baccalaureate system took some pointed criticism from many corners about not being efficient or effective enough with state taxpayer dollars or student tuition dollars.   At the time, we didn’t have enough concrete information from a national comparative perspective to prove otherwise and as part of the deal to permit institutions to raise tuition to 14% per year, a performance audit of the four year system is going to be conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee.

So, I’m pleased to report that the Council of Presidents staff has pulled together some remarkable information that I have recently posted to the state relations website that paints a very favorable national picture of Washington four year insitutions.  If you look under the “Resources” section to the right, you will see two new Investment Reports, one on degree productivity and one on system design that all of us in the the public baccalaureate system hope will begin to help restore legisalative confidence in the efficiency and effectiveness of all six four year institutions.