This afternoon the House Higher Education Committee held its last session prior to the first deadlines of the supplemental session. Tomorrow, January 31, marks the deadline for all House policy bills to have moved from committee to either the floor of their respective chambers or to an appropriation committee.

The Committee held a public hearing on House Bill 2717. The bill focuses on innovation at Washington’s higher education institutions. The bill encourages the public baccalaureate institutions to design innovative approaches to increase the number of resident students gaining baccalaureate degrees or further updating their academic credentials with a focus on high-growth sectors of the economy. In addition, the bill encourages the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to charter a consortium of volunteer community and technical colleges to design innovative approaches to rapidly and substantially increase the cost-effective delivery of developmental and remedial education, and test these innovations in pilot projects where possible.

The public baccalaureate institutions testified in support of the intention of the bill and shared the innovative activities going on at all of the campuses of the bill but expressed concerns about additional reporting requirements and the lack of state resources for higher education.

The Committee followed the public hearing with an executive session in which three bills were moved forward in the process. Among the bills moved along was House Bill 2717 heard earlier in the day, legislation to enable the opportunity for early registration for veterans, and a bill that would establish a new state higher education entity.