Deja Vu in the Senate

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This afternoon the Senate took action on several familiar bills and then adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.

The Senate passed 25-19 Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6444 (ESSB 6444) the Senate’s proposed 2010 supplemental operating budget. 

Here is a refresher on the Senate’s proposed operating budget as it relates to Evergreen and other higher education priorities.

  • Increases health benefits and salaries by $4,000.  
  • Appropriates $50,000 for research support to the Quality Education Council.
  • Reduces state funding by $1.18 million
  • Assumes a savings of $426,000 in compensation reduction activities. 
  • Shifts Maintenance & & Operation (M&O) funds from the Capital budget to the Operating budget in the amount of $3.247 for Evergreen.
  • Restores funding to the State Need Grant
  •  Reduces funding for public colleges and universities by $69.5 million
  •  Increases worker retraining funds by $27.8 million
  • Reduces state work study by 30% in the second year of the biennium
  • Suspends funding for the health professional conditional scholarship and loan repayment program. Funding will continue to complete scholarship commitments to current recipients, but no new applicants will be selected.
  • Suspends the Educational Opportunity Grant. Funding will continue to complete grant commitments to current recipients, but no new applicants will be selected.
  • Continues funding to complete commitments to students who receive the Washington Scholar and Washington Award for Vocational Excellence funds but no new applicants will be selected for 2010. 
  • Suspends the Future Teachers Scholarship. Funding will continue for current recipeints who were awarded the scholarships in prior years to complete their studies.  
  • Suspends matching funds to support innovations in child care delivery at the public universities.
  • Reduces the Passport to College program by 30%
  • Reduces funding by 30% to the State-funded GEAR UP Projects
  • Suspends the Western Interstate Compact for Higher Education Professional Student Exchange program. Funding is continued to maintain commitments to current recipients
  • Suspends funding for state work study experience for students considering careers in math and science instruction.
  • Suspends the state contribution in the second year of the biennium for the Foster Care Endowed Scholarship
  • Suspends funding for the Leadership 1000 program

The Senate passed four other bills that were left behind upon ajdournment of the 2010 regular session. Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5899 provides businesses with 20 employees or less a credit against the Business and Occupation Tax for the creation of new employment positions for  which the business offers a health care plan. The credits are based on the amount of wages and are capped at a maximum of $10 million per year.

Second Substitute Senate Bill 6675 creates the Washington Global Health Technologies Product Development Competitiveness Program to be administered by a Board appointed by the Governor. The Board is charged to solicit funds from businesses, foundations, and the federal government, and make grants for the development of global health technologies and products.

Substitute Senate Bill 6706 requires state universities (by definition in the bill UW and WSU) to perform one of the following: (1) Provide collaborative research and tech-transfer opportunities; (2) Make commercialization processes and resources accessible; (3) Pair researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors through workshops, events, and websites; and (4) Provide opportunities through training for direct involvement in research and industry interactions. To achieve these ends, state universities are authorized to establish and administer bridge funding programs with federal and private funds.

Senate Joint Resolution 8225 changes the definition of interest payments for calculating the state debt limit to substract direct federal subsidies.

Finally, the Senate took action to move two bills from committee to the Senate floor for further consideration during special session.

Substitute Senate Bill 6503 directs state agencies, including higher education institutions to achieve a $69.2 million reduction in employee compensation costs from the near General Fund through mandatory and voluntary compensation reduction activities (i.e. furloughs, leave without pay, reduced work hours, voluntary retirements and separations, layoffs, and other methods).

Senate Bill 6789 provides a sales and use tax exemption for eligible server equipment and power infrastructure for eligible computer data centers. In order to qualify a data center must: (1) Be located in a rural county; (2) have at least 20,000 square feet dedicated to housing servers; and (3) have commenced construction between April 1, 2010, and before July 1, 2011. The tax credit expires April 1, 2018.