This morning the House Ways & Means Committee took action on legislation that would establish an endowment for students studying in high-demand fields.

HB 2088 creates the Opportunity Scholarship Program and the Opportunity Expansion Program to mitigate the impact of tuition increases, increase the number of baccalaureate degrees in high employer demand and other programs, and invest in programs and students to meet market demand fields of study while filling middleincome jobs with a sufficient supply of skilled workers.

The Committee amended the bill as follows:

• Retained the name of the State Need Grant. The original bill would have changed the name to the Opportunity Award.
• Prohibited institutions that are selected to receive an Opportunity Expansion Award – an Award to an institution that proposes programs designed to increase the number of baccalaureate degrees produced in highemployer demand and other programs of study – by the Opportunity Scholarship Board from including the award in the institution’s base budget. In the original bill institution’s were allowed to include these awards in their base budget.
• Clarified that eligible prorams are education programs. The original bill also including training programs.
• Expanded eligibility requirements for the Opportunity Scholarships to require that students must have received their high school diploma or GED in Washington. The original bill did not include this requirement.
• Removed language that would provide the program administrator with the discretion to set the scholarship amount at either $1,000 or the dollar difference between tuition and fees regardless of which amount is greater. The original bill would have provided for this discretion.
• Replaced existing reporting language with more detailed language that requires the Opportunity Scholarship Board together with the program administrator to report to the Legislature and others with respect to both the Opportunity Scholarship and Opportunity Expansion programs and further requires legislative review and consideration of the annual reports. Includes requirements that the reports include data regarding the race, ethnicity, gender, county of origin, age, and median family income of applicatns and recipients of an Opportunity Scholarship.

House Bill 2088 now goes to the floor for further consideration.