News & Updates

It’s week number four in Olympia and this Friday is cut-off day for all standing policy committees in the House and Senate.  As a reminder, that generally means if it hasn’t moved onto a fiscal committee or the rules committee by Friday, it’s dead for the session.  So, you can bet this will be a week packed with round the clock committee hearings, impatient and tired legislators and anxious lobbyists.

Both House and Senate Higher Education committees continue hearing policy bills on Monday at 1:30 p.m.  Executive session on HB 2548, which would establish a new UW branch campus in Everett is expected in the House Higher Education committee at the same time.  Here’s today’s story in the Everett Herald about the current status of this issue in the state legislature.

Later that evening, the House Commerce and Labor committee will hold a public hearing on HB 3332 which applies only to institutions of higher education and would, among other things, permit the Governor to submit a funding request for a collective bargaining agreement that was not finalized by the current deadline of October 1.

On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., the House Capital Budget committee will hold a public hearing on a brand new bill (HB 3329) sponsored by Rep. Bill Fromhold (D-Vancouver) and introduced at the end of last week.  The bill would make significant changes to the capital budget prioritization process for four-year institutions.  The measure abolishes the existing Council of Presidents managed process which was established in 2003 and instead places the prioritization responsibility with the Office of Financial Management.  The new process would be based on the existing process used by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and would place four year capital projects into different categories (access, economic development, renovation, etc.).  Of concern to the University is another requirement in the measure which would require development of two priority lists of capital projects — one for our two branch campuses and one for all other projects.

The public hearing on SB 6848, sponsored by Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Renton) which would provide public financing for a renovation of Husky Stadium will be held Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  Former Governor and UW Regent Dan Evans, Interim Athletic Director Scott Woodward, and head football coach Tyrone Willingham will testify in support of the measure on behalf of the University.

On Wednesday, the Senate Ways and Means committee will hear Sen. Paull Shin’s SSB 6391 which is the Senate version of the UW Everett branch campus legislation.  Sen. Derek Kilmer’s legislation (SSB 5978) which would study the baccalaureate needs of the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas is scheduled for a public hearing at the same time.

I’m sure I’ve just scratched the surface of what is likely to be a fast and furious week.  Just for your information, I am tentatively scheduling an in-person campus legislative briefing for February 12, so stay tuned for more details.

…… that I started working for the state of Washington.  On Monday February 1, 1988, I walked into the offices of the Senate Ways and Means Committee in what is now the A,B,C conference rooms in the John A. Cherberg Building to begin working as a fiscal analyst for the Washington State Legislature.  The Friday before, I was literally working in the same capacity for the California State Legislature.  Yep, I moved jobs and states in one weekend and started work three weeks into a legislative session.  No, I would not recommend that to you or anyone else.

Anyway, two decades later, I’m still working for Washington State, albeit in a different state agency and a different city.  Sixteen years on staff with the Senate Ways and Means Committee and now four years representing the UW and I am still really having a blast.  As I get ready to speak to an Evans School class next week, it’s also encouraging to see so many students continuing to have an interest in public service (note the UW was once again #1 in Peace Corps participation for the second year in a row).

No time for punch and cake.  There are bills to follow and budgets to lobby.

And I’m not just talking about the weather (which has been miserable as you know).

Tomorrow we hit the one-third mark of this legislative session and while policy committees are in a full blown state of frenzy as they approach their cut-off dates next week, the hallways and corridors are filled with some apprehension and anxiety about the state of the Washington economy and what might happen to the next general fund revenue forecast.

Tomorrow, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will hold its quarterly economic review meeting and on February 15, will release it’s updated projections of general fund revenue collections for the remainder of the biennium.  The preliminary news from legislators and staffers who follow these issues closely has been a bit gloomier than anyone would like.  While the state’s economy is still considered stronger than many others around the nation, most all of the hot housing market which fueled the last two years of unprecedented revenue growth is gone.  Couple that with a strong chance of a national recession and it’s hard to be very optimistic about the future.

While the current consensus is for a short and shallow economic dip, even modest changes to the state’s revenue forecast can cause havoc for budget writers because even small percentage drops could mean the loss of one or two hundred million in the forecast.  With all eyes on the size of the ending fund balance (which the Governor made her top supplemental budget priority), a drop in the revenue forecast in two weeks could mean all those wonderful ideas we have for additional spending might have to be reduced or possibly postponed.

Well, at least the mood seems to match the weather.

Today at noon, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education chair Rep. Kathy Haigh (D-Shelton) released the details of her 2008 supplemental operating budget recommendations.  Unfortunately, the proposed budget represents a step backwards for the UW from the Governor’s budget recommendations issued in December.

A total of $100,000 in funding for the UW’s community alert system (which had been included in the Governor’s budget) was removed.  In it’s place, the chair’s budget included $88,000 for one new mental health professional to provide counseling services for UW students.  While the University is supportive of the student request for additional mental health counseling positions, it was not intended to come at the expense of previously requested funding for campus security items.  A total of $125,000 for the Ruckelshaus Center to conduct a land use study was retained from the Governor’s original recommendation.

In addition, the $1.1 million included in the Governor’s budget for the UW North Sound campus was shifted to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to expand enrollment growth in two-year partnerships with other four-year institutions in the Snohomish, Island and Skagit county areas.  The funds would also be used for outreach and marketing to other two year and public schools in the region.

The chair’s proposed budget includes no funding for any additional UW supplemental operating budget requests, including restoration of the non-resident graduate subsidy reduction from last year’s biennial budget, campus safety items, etc.

The Washington Student Lobby secured the inclusion of $2 million in new funding, equally split between the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, for their priority legislation HB 2582, which will significantly increase the amount of funding for student childcare throughout the entire higher education system.

The UW’s $250,000 request to enhance childcare opportunities for faculty, staff and students was not funded.

The committee is scheduled to take public testimony on the chair’s recommendations tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. and is scheduled to act on the proposal in committee Wednesday evening.  For those of you who want to read the details on your own, you can access the subcommittee’s budget recommendations at: http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/budget/detail/2008/ho2008EDp.asp

Just wanted to pass along some thoughts about the UW North Sound hearing on Friday afternoon in the House Capital Budget Committee.

During the first couple weeks of session the debate on the new campus has been starkly different between the two legislative chambers.  In the Senate, most of the disagreement seems to center on whether the new branch campus belongs in Everett, Marysville or Lake Stevens.  In the House of Representatives, however, while there are similar divisions over the potential location, a much more serious discussion has surfaced which revolves around whether the state should develop a new UW branch campus at all.

In the preliminary academic plan the University submitted to the Governor and the Legislature last November, the estimated cost of the new campus was estimated to be between $600 and $800 million once the campus reached at optimum level of 5,000 students.  The study further concluded that in order to insure that the new campus could provide a concentration of courses in science, technology and engineering, the institution should be built as rapidly as possible.

Obviously, such an ambitious capital investment for just one new campus could present some difficult challenges for a state capital budget which is struggling to pay for existing obligations while assuming new future financial requirements for K-12 capital construction.  This has resulted in a lot of understandable uproar in the halls of the state capitol and caused a number of House members to wonder if the state can really afford a new UW branch campus in Snohomish County.

These were precisely the issues that Rep. Bill Fromhold (D-Vancouver) wanted to see discussed at last Friday’s work session on higher education capital and the projected costs of a new UW North Sound campus.  Marilyn Cox from Planning and Budgeting and I were joined by Rep. Hans Dunshee (D-Snohomish) at the presenters table to talk about this issue and take questions from committee members.

From my vantage point, the work session went very well and served as an excellent example of how the legislative committee process can both educate and illuminate difficult fiscal policy issues.  In our remarks, I think Marilyn and I provided the members with a clearer sense of the basis for our UW North Sound capital estimates and how different assumptions about how fast or perhaps how “incremental” the legislature chooses to grow the new campus can produce different cost estimates.  We also tried to reinforce the point that rapid capital development can insure that the new campus can more quickly provide critical courses in science, technology and engineering.  A slower or more incremental approach will delay the introduction of these more expensive course offerings.

The fate of the UW North Sound campus is still weeks away as the 2008 legislative session is far from over.  I think Friday’s committee meeting provided those in attendance a better sense of the academic trade-offs involved in various approaches to the capital development of UW North Sound.

Two weeks have now passed in the 2008 legislative session and I think we feel in State Relations like we are finally getting caught up with what seems to be another record batch of bills introduced so far.  By next week, I hope to have a list of “UW High Priority Bills” posted to the Spotlight section of the website and it will be our intention to keep that updated every couple of days or so.

In the meantime, let’s go over a few bills of significant interest to the University of Washington so far this session.

SB 6848 — Financing the renovation of university stadium facilities

I guess you had to have been out of the country the past week or so to miss the considerable attention heaped upon this measure.  This is one of two University request bills.  As you have probably already read, this bill would provide financing for a portion of the cost of renovating Husky Stadium.  In brief, the bill “re-purposes” several King County-only taxes (rental car, food and beverage and hotel/motel) which will be finished paying for Safeco Field, the Kingdome repairs and Qwest Field over the next several years.  These revenue sources would then be used to finance 50% of the debt on a planned $300 million renovation of the stadium.  The other half of the project would be paid by the UW from new revenues from premium seating and donations from Husky supporters.  The bill is sponsored by Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Renton), the chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

SB 6637/HB 2825 — Allowing certain alcohol permit holders to obtain alcohol in nonbeverage form directly from suppliers

This is the University’s other request bill for the 2008 session and is probably as non-controversial as it’s stadium cousin is controversial.  The bill would allow the UW to purchase ethanol (industrial alcohol) directly from national suppliers instead of going through the State Liquor Board.  The University uses 8,000 gallons of ethanol per year for medical and research purposes.  Due to the closure of our Central Stores operation at the end of 2007, purchasing must be done by individual campus units using the ProCard system.  Because the Liquor Board does not take credit cards, we worked with the Board to draft this legislation which would permit us to buy ethanol directly instead of having to go through the Board system.  We’ve had public hearings on both the Senate and House versions of the measure.  The House bill passed easily out of the House Commerce and Labor committee on Friday and the Senate bill is expected to pass out of committee early next week.

SB 6391/HB 2548 — Authorizing an additional University of Washington branch campus

These bills sponsored by Sen. Paull Shin and Rep. Hans Dunshee would establish a third UW branch campus in Everett at the downtown Pacific Station site.  There are two other measures (SB 6352 abd HB 2814) sponsored by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen and Rep. Dave Quall which would establish certain priority criteria for establishing a new branch campus including whether the site is “centrally” located within the Snohomish, Island and Skagit county areas.  A third bill, SB 6490 sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, would establish a new UW branch campus in Lake Stevens at the Cavalero site.  Sen. Shin’s measure has passed out of the Senate Higher Education Committee and referred to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  The other Senate bills have been heard but not acted upon.  Both House measures will have a public hearing on Monday January 28 in the House Higher Education Committee.

SB 6328/HB 2648 — Enhancing campus safety and security

These measures sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Rep. Deb Wallace were introduced at the request of the Governor.  The measures are designed to improve the safety of all university and college campuses by improving campus safety planning and dissemination and provides for regular review of campus safety planning and procedures and new state reporting requirements.  Both bills were heard in their respective higher education committees last week.  The UW, along with other institutions support the measures but have recommended several changes designed to clarify certain requirements and avoid some unintentional consequences.

HB 2582 — Regarding child care at institutions of higher education

This bill sponsored by Rep. Mary Helen Roberts is the 2008 priority legislation for the Washington Student Lobby.  The meausure replace an existing HECB childcare competitive grant program with a program that awards both competitive and matching grants to higher edcuation institutions for student child care.  Funding which would be included in the state operating budget would be matched dollar for dollar with student fees from each school.  Sen. Derek Kilmer has also introduced SB 6730 which is also designed to improve and enhance child care services and resources for state institutions of higher education.

More on other legislation in the days to come.

Senator Paull Shin’s bill (SB 6391) which establishes a new UW branch campus in Everett at the Pacific Station site was passed out of the Senate Higher Education Committee this afternoon by a vote of 5-1.  Committee members Shin, Derek Kilmer, Jean Berkey, Jerome Delvin and Mark Schoesler voted in favor, while Tim Sheldon voted against.  The bill now goes to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

As I mentioned in this morning’s post, the House Appropriations Education Subcommittee will hold a work session tomorrow morning on the UW North Sound campus issue and the House Capital Budget Committee will hold a work session on Friday to discuss future capital costs for the campus.

The House Higher Education committee has yet to scheduled a public hearing on Rep. Hans Dunshee’s bill (HB 2548) which would also establish the UW North Sound campus in Everett.

The way this session began last week, I feel like I am aging in “dog years,” you know, each week really feels like seven weeks, or something like that.  Woof.  In any event, can’t be much busier than last week and besides, “it wouldn’t be fun if it was easy.”

Today, the House Higher Education Committee considers HB 2783 which is an attempt to improve articulation and transfer between institutions of higher education.  COP has been collecting viewpoints on this legislation from all four-year schools and the consensus seems to be the bill has some noble goals but causes some difficulties for our institutions.  The Senate Higher Education committee meets at the same time to consider a number of workforce education bills.

At 3:30 p.m. today, the House Appropriations Committee will look at higher education and technology fields.  Jim Severson from the UW Tech Transfer office will make a presentation to the committee which will also hear reports on high demand enrollment allocations and perspectives from the Prosperity Partnership.

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Education Subcommittee will discuss the UW North Sound campus issue and hear presentations on campus security budget requests.  I will be there to present the preliminary academic plan for the campus and Deb Merle from the Governor’s office will provide updates on issues related to the site selection process.

The next morning, the House Higher Education Committee will hold a work session on campus safety featuring UW student representatives and Vice Provost Eric Godfrey.  The Senate Higher Education Committee will hold a public hearing on SB 6133 that would limit tuition increases.  Also on Wednesday, the Council of Faculty Representatives will hold its Faculty Serving Washington exhibit in room 112 of the Legislative Building.

On Thursday, the House Higher Education Committee will hold a public hearing on HB 2646 which would increase bereavement leave for higher education employees from three to five days.  A preliminary analysis of this bill indicates it could have a significant cost.  In the Senate Higher Education Committee, public hearings will be held on SB 6328, which is the Governor’s campus safety legislation and SB 6304 which would stautorily ban firearms on college campuses.  The committee will also consider SB 6490 which would establish a UW branch campus in Lake Stevens which was one of the four finalist sites selected in the NBBJ consultants report.

That same afternoon, the Senate Labor, Research and Commerce Committee will hear a UW request bill, SB 6637 which would permit the UW to purchase ethyl alcohol directly from national suppliers instead of going through the Liquor Control Board.  This bill is needed due to the closure in December of the UW central stores operation.  A House companion bill (HB 2825) will be heard in the House Commerce and Labor Committee on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

On Friday, the House Capital Budget Committee will hold a work session on two topics of interest to the UW.  First, the committee will study the 10-year capital cost projections for the proposed UW North Sound branch campus in Snohomish County.  In addition, the committee will hear a report from COP on the use of proportionality in the priority setting process of the public baccalaureate capital projects priority list.

Who needs………. well, you can fill in the blank.

I am hard pressed to recall a day this darned busy.  Lots and lots of UW stuff going on, much of which you will read about in your local papers on Friday morning.

As I mentioned in the previous post, today was the big Senate hearing on the UW North Sound campus.  Along with Deb Merle from the Governor’s office, I helped lead off the festivities with an update on the preliminary academic plan (not much to report) and then it was question time.  Sen. Jean Berkey (D-Everett) asked the proverbial $64,000 question about which site the UW preferred, and I answered as I mentioned I would earlier today.  Deb then provided an update on some of the outstanding issues and controversies swirling around the two primary sites in question, and then it was off to public testimony which continued for the next two hours.  Dozens of supporters of both the Everett and Marysville site were in attendance including numerous local elected officials, business owners, citizen advocates, etc.  Much passion in the debate on both sides and committee members were clearly interested in what everyone had to say.  Not sure if anyone’s opinion was changed by the testimony but while the Everett site has gained some additional support this week, deep divisions remain in the legislature on the issue.  More importantly, I believe a number of legislators are beginning to question the wisdom of moving ahead at all on the new campus given the cost projections and what appear to be concerns about how this really fits into the entire higher education system.

Early afternoon I found myself in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education chaired by Rep. Kathy Haigh (D-Shelton).  This subcommittee was created last session to give legislators a chance to delve more deeply into the budget requests and issues of early childhood education, K-12 and higher education.  I got a rare opportunity to present our entire supplemental budget request but most of the questions from legislators focused on the one item we didn’t ask for — the funding included in the Governor’s supplemental budget to begin offering classes next fall in the Snohomish County area provided the legislature selects a site for the new campus.

By the end of the subcommittee hearing, it was apparent to me that the Board of Regents (meeting today in Seattle) had approved the Husky Stadium advisory committee proposal to spend $300 million to renovate the facility and to seek public funding for one half of the request.  A number of reporters caught me out by the sundial (the gathering area between the Senate and House office buildings) and they had a lot of questions about what was being proposed.

In a nutshell, the UW is asking the state to “repurpose” some of the revenues currently being used to finance professional sports stadiums in King County towards the Husky Stadium renovation project (once those sources have fully paid for the existing stadiums of course).  Of the $300 million price tag, the state would be asked to pay for one half and the UW would pay for the other half.  The state funds would be used for what we call “preservation, renovation and maintenance” items such as replacing the lower bowl which dates from 1920, bringing the stadium into compliance with the Americans with Disabilites Act, replacing the press box, and making some seismic upgrades.  The UW funds would be used to improve the fan experience in the stadium by removing the track, bringing the west end of the stadium in closer to the field, lowering the field itself and improving concession areas, bathrooms, etc.  These items would be paid with donations from Husky supporters and revenues from premium seating (similar to the seats in the Don James Center).

Later on Friday, I will post all of the advocacy materials we have developed for the stadium request in the Spotlight section of the State Relations webpage.

It’s only day four of a 60 day session and I feel like session has been going on for several weeks.  Friday should hopefully slow down a bit because I really need some time to study a number of bills which are scheduled for hearings next week.  Just noticed our men’s basketball team earned a much needed victory over the Oregon Ducks, so that’s a nice way to finish a very, very hectic day.

Today the Senate Higher Ed committee will hold a public hearing on bills related to establishing a new UW branch campus in Snohomish County.  Sen. Paull Shin’s bill would establish the campus in Everett at the Pacific Station site.  Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen’s legislation would require specified criteria to be used to determine the best location for the new branch.

Yesterday, a reporter for the Everett Herald asked the University which site we preferred.  To be honest, I’m sort of surprised it took two months since the site selection report was released for someone to ask this question.  We told them the truth — we participated very closely in the NBBJ report process (although we didn’t do the actual work) we read the report completely, and we concur with the report’s conclusions that the Pacific Station site should be ranked first.  This does not mean that the Marysville/Smokey Point site would not work.  It’s sort of like the difference between someone getting a B+ and a B- on a term paper.  They are both good, but one is a little better than the other.  That’s all.

No matter where the legislature ultimately decides to locate the campus, if they want the UW to be involved we will work hard to make any new campus a success for the local community.  Here’s a link to the story in the Everett Herald if you are interested.