This morning the Washington Senate passed (38-9) a striking amendment to the supplemental budget bill (ESHB 1086), the House version of the operating supplemental budget.

The supplemental budget brought to the Senate floor this morning was amended and passed out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Thursday.  The Committee adopted a handful of amendments during the executive session, including language to add back funds each four-year, public baccalaureate institution pays as members of the Council of presidents that were reduced in the original bill.

The Senate’s supplemental budget still reduces higher education by $25.4 million through a tuition transfer from the institutions -public 2-year and 4-year – to the Higher Education Coordinating Board for financial aid.

In addition,  funding reductions were retained to the Higher Education Coordinating Board ($909,000), Workforce Employment and Training (ESD) ($318,000), and the following HECB programs and services ($632,000): (1) College Readiness Program, (2) Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA), (3) student financial aid administration, and (4) the Technology Transformation Task Force. 

The next step is to convene a conference committee comprised of three senators ( two Democrats and one Republican) and three representatives (two Democrats and one Republican) to iron out the differences between the two budgets. Once there is agreement, the bill will be voted on by both chambers with no opportunity for amendments, and then sent to the Governor for her signature.