News & Updates

In case you missed this yesterday, the Seattle Times ran a very complimentary editorial about the new Innovation Research Teams (IRT) program (also referred to as the “Star Researchers” program) which was created in the 2007-09 biennial budget act.

As you may recall, the program ran into some trouble this past session when the House Appropriations Committee proposed cutting funding for the new effort which provides resources to recruit scientists to Washington’s research universities who have the potential of transferring their knowledge into the private sector.  Funding was ultimately restored (and even enhanced slightly) and both the UW’s Michael Hochberg and WSU-Tri Cities Birgitte Ahring are working hard to make their mark in Washington State.

The future of the IRT program in the next biennium has yet to be written but both schools would like to see funding increase so that additional “star” research talent can be brought to the state to help fuel economic growth.

This afternoon, President Emmert appeared before the monthly meeting of the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) in Seattle to present the University’s 2009-11 biennial operating budget proposal (just adopted last Thursday by the Board of Regents) and to discuss the UW’s 10-year enrollment and degree production plans.

Emmert’s appearance before the HECB was a joint presentation with WSU President Elson Floyd and focused on the contributions of Washington’s two research universities to meeting the state’s educational and economic development needs.  A copy of the two presidents powerpoint presentation will be posted to this website tomorrow.

In a separate presentation, Emmert then discussed the UW’s recently released 10-year enrollment and degree production plans which were unveiled last Thursday at a meeting of the Board of Regents.  That plan, which calls for increases in enrollments and degree production at all three UW campuses received some nice praise in this editorial which appeared in the Sunday Seattle Times.  A copy of this presentation will also be posted to the State Relations website tomorrow.

For those of you interested in a summary of the UW operating budget request, the final slide of the enrollment and degree production powerpoint presentation has a nice summary of each of the requested budget items tied directly to its corresponding HECB strategic master plan goal.

The UW’s biennial capital budget request will be submitted to the Board in mid-August and the more detailed operating and capital budget submittals are due to the Office of Financial Management in September.

Too much going on this week to have managed to get this posted on Wednesday, but wanted to let those of you following the Husky Stadium issue know that the task force charged with developing recommendations on future use of revenues from Safeco Field, Qwest Field, the Kingdome and possibly the State Convention and Trade Center met this past Wednesday morning in Olympia.

Co-chairs Sen. Tracey Eide (D-Federal Way) and Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Bellevue) were joined by all five other members in hearing a lengthy presentation from House and Senate committee staff on the details and history of funding of professional sports facilities in King County.  According to the staff presentation, the first hotel/motel tax credits were enacted more than four decades ago in 1967 and were used to help finance the now demolished Kingdome.  Over the years, additional taxes on hotel/motel stays, rental car use, restaurant meals and simple diversion of general fund tax revenues have been passed to finance additional professional sports venues in the state’s largest county.

Most of the meeting was devoted to what I might term “King County stadium revenues 101.”  At the close of the almost two hour meeting, committee members had a chance to talk about other issues and matters they would like to hear discussed over the next few months.  At least three additional meetings are planned this fall, and it is likely the University will be permitted to make a presentation on its stadium renovation proposal at one of those hearings.  Judging by the number of interested parties in the audience, this should prove to be one of the liveliest and best attended joint legislative committees we have seen in a long time.

Yesterday, Governor Chris Gregoire appointed the first student to the UW Board of Regents who is a student at the University of Washington – Tacoma.  Jean-Paul Willynck, a senior Urban Studies major was appointed to a one-year term to the board effective July 1.  As a student regent, Willynck will represent the interests of all three campuses even though he is the first student regent not to hail from the Seattle student body.  Willynck was one of more than 3,000 students who applied for the position.  He has been an active participant in the UW Tacoma’s student legislative and advocacy committee and has lobbied for student issues in Olympia.

Chris Mulick from the Tri-City Herald posted this story a couple of days ago about the potential fiscal impact of two initiatives which I wrote about in the blog last week that are likely to appear on the November 2008 ballot.

Tim Eyman’s Initiative 985, which would redirect 15% of the state sales tax on the sale of new and used vehicles to traffic congestion relief projects, could cost the state general fund $290 million over the next three fiscal years according to a preliminary analysis by the Department of Revenue.  Another measure, Initiative 1029, which is backed by the Service Employee’s International Union and calls for increased training for homecare workers, could cost $23 million based on an analysis of a similar measure which was considered but not enacted during the 2008 legislative session.

Combined, these two initiatives would add another $313 million to the general fund ledger for 2009-11 which is already anticipated to have a gap of $2.7 billion according to the most recent projections by the staff to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  Mulick points out that a $3 billion deficit represents about 9 percent of total general fund spending and does not yet factor in the cost of the working family tax credit which was enacted this year but not yet funded.

Full reports outlining the policy and fiscal impact of all initiatives on the November ballot should be available by this September.

The University of Washington got some good news late last week regarding a complaint filed several months ago with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).

Last February, Rep. Glenn Anderson (R-Fall City) filed a complaint with the PDC alleging that a recent publication of the College of Education “Taking Measure: Does Modern Math Education Add Up?” was an attempt by the UW to lobby the state legislature on proposed math learning standards as provided by 2SSB 1906 (chapter 396, Laws of 2007).

As the UW Director of State Relations, I responded to the complaint on behalf of the University during the 2008 session.  We denied that the publication in question constituted lobbying.  In addition, we pointed out that the report in question is part of a regular series of publications that the College of Education has produced for several years around a single educational issue, the most recent report focusing on math education.  The purpose of these publications is to share university research on an important educational policy topic with the educational community, state legislators, business groups and the general public.

On July 2, PDC Executive Director Vicki Rippie sent this letter, dismissing the complaint against the UW filed by Rep. Anderson.  Commission investigators concluded that the publication in question was part of the College of Education’s normal practice of making its research available to a broad spectrum of interested parties and that no evidence was found that the report constituted prohibited lobbying.

Got some nice feedback from the link I posted a few weeks ago to a news parody in The Onion on education.

Here’s another satirical story about a new innovation that’s sure to revolutionize graduate education in the U.S.

Have a great weekend!

With a presidential and gubernatorial election coming this November, it’s pretty easy to lose track of how statewide initiative gathering is coming this summer.  But believe it or not, next Thursday July 3, is the deadline for turning in signatures for measures that proponents want to appear on the November 2008 ballot.

So far, the two most high profile ballot measures (I-985 and I-1000) seem to have managed to turn in at least the minimum 225,000 signatures required, but the campaign leaders also know that they probably need to collect another 30,000 to 50,000 signatures by next Thursday because many signatures collected initially are often found to be invalid.

The two major ballot initiatives vying for a spot this November are:

Initative 985:  Tim Eyman’s latest foray into the initiative world is aimed at reducing traffic congestion.  The measure opens HOV lanes to all traffic during certain hours and creates a traffic congestion relief fund to be financed by using a portion of sales tax on cars, red light ticket cameras and funds set aside for art on transportation projects.

Initiative 1000:  Former Governor Booth Gardner’s assisted suicide initiative which would permit physicians to help terminally ill patients end their lives.  The measure is modeled after Oregon’s law which took effect in 1997.

Another measure which might also qualify is Initiative 1029 which would require newly hired long-term care workers who work with the elderly or the disabled to be certified after passing an examination and would require increased training and background checks.  The initiative is modeled after legislation introduced this past legislative session which did not pass.

This story yesterday in the Everett Herald finally brings to light something that has been talked about off-the-record since the battle over the location of a possible new UW North Sound branch fizzled in a stalemate at the end of the 2008 legislative session.

The Legion Memorial Golf Course in Everett is being discussed by lawmakers as a location which could be a potential compromise between proponents of the Everett Transit Center and Marysville-Smokey Point sites.  Although the site was not offered by the city last year and has not been through a comprehensive evaluation, it is located at the very north end of the city, closer to north county residents and proximate to Everett Community College.

As you may recall, at the tail end of the last session, the Legislature provided $100,000 to the Higher Education Coordinating Board to convene interested parties from the region and develop a consensus recommendation for a campus site.  There is no formal public process for this endeavor and the city of Everett is still evaluating whether or not the golf course could even be converted to an alternative purpose.  Jerry Cornfield’s story goes on to mention that Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) and Rep. Hans Dunshee (D-Snohomish) have recently met to discuss how to move forward on the issue.  Who knows if the Legion Golf Course holds the keys to a potential compromise?

This is a really great time of year if you’re someone like me who lives their professional life by the rhythms of the state legislature.  It’s mid-June, the weather is warm and the 2008 session seems like a distant memory.  Better still, most elected officials are preoccupied with their respective campaigns and the 2009 session is still more than half a year away.  State government?  What’s that?

I’m only joking, of course.  This is the time of year when we work really hard to get elected officials onto the campus to meet our faculty, staff and students and learn about our research and academic endeavors.  We’ve had quite a few Olympia-types visit over the past couple of months and I thought I’d give you a quick summary of some of what’s been going on.

• Sen. Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup), Sen. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor) and several Senate committee staff came to the Seattle campus recently to learn more about UW research efforts.  Kastama is the chair of the Senate Economic Development, Trade and Management Committee and a big proponent of higher education research as a critical driver of the state’s economy.  Vice Provost for Research Mary Lidstrom assembled an impressive series of presentations which included Dr. Michael Hochberg who spoke about nanophotonics, Dr. Ed Lazowska who talked about the recently formed UW “eScience Initiative” and Dr. Paul Yager who discussed bioengineering and point-of-care diagnostics.
• Staffers from the Senate, House and Governor’s office paid a visit in April to the UW Tacoma campus to learn more about their campus and plans for the future.  In addition, some of the same individuals participated in a tour in early May of the two leading sites for the potential UW campus in Snohomish County.
• Staffers from the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee visited campus in May to learn more about the School of Social Work’s “Partners for Our Children” program.  This innovative partnership between the UW, the Department of Social and Health Services and the private sector to improve the state’s child welfare system.  The visit was lead by Mark Courtney, Executive Director of the program.
• The House Early Learning and Children’s Services and Higher Education Committees held a joint work session at the Burke Museum last week which focused on the preparation of world class teachers and early learning professionals.  UW College of Education Dean Pat Walsley and Cap Peck, Director of Teacher Education were presenters in the early afternoon session on partnerships and collaboration.
• Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Renton), chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee was on campus yesterday to visit the UW Autism Center.  Sen. Prentice is the parent of an autistic son and has been very active in supporting programs and research in this area.  In the 2007 session, she secured funding for the UW to produce a educational DVD to provide help to parents of autistic children. The DVD is now finished and on June 25, President Mark Emmert and Sen. Prentice will appear at a press conference with autism center staff to unveil the DVD and introduce some of the families who participated in the project.
• Rep. Larry Seaquist (D-Gig Harbor) paid a visit to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) yesterday to learn more about their work.  Rep. Seaquist was a supporter of the UW’s 2008 supplemental budget request to provide additional resources to the IHME to facilitate more work on Washington State health care costs and outcomes.  Institute director Chris Murray and Michael MaIntyre, director of strategy and special projects helped to organize the visit.

We have lots more visits planned for our state elected officials in the coming weeks and months.  If I’ve missed a recent visit that you might have coordinated, please let me know so that we can share it with the group.