Monthly Archives: February 2012

Revenue Forecast

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This morning the February state economic and revenue forecast was released.  The forecast shows projected General Fund revenues for the current biennium up by $95.7 million compared to the prior quarterly forecast in November. However, according to state budget director Marty Brown,  the real net gain is $45 million, because legislation adopted in December drove more than half of the gain.

According to the Olympian, in addition to the positive gain in revenue, “the recent caseload forecast showed lower demand for services, which is providing a larger, $330 million gain on the state’s balance sheet through June 2013.”

Interim state forecaster, Dr. Steve Lerch, did caution that the growing European economic debt crisis is cause for concern.  Looking to the future Lerch  predicts slow growth around 6.6% for the 2013-2015 biennium. While he cautions that Washington won’t reach pre-recession employment levels until 2014, he notes that Washington should outpace national rates. He warns, however, “while we think we are doing better than the U.S., this is still not great.”

What this means for the budget:

The slight uptick in revenue, when combined with the caseload savings, provides roughly an additional $375 million in savings for the state. Remember, revenue was down in November, so these savings bring the November shortfall down to roughly $1 billion.

During the forecast, Democratic Representative Ross Hunter, budget chair in the House, said the House will unveil their supplemental budget proposal between Monday and Wednesday of next week. Senator Ed Murray, budget chair for the Senate, said theirs would follow in the days or week following. Once both budgets have been unveiled the two chambers will begin negotiations to reconcile the two.

Whether new revenue proposals (i.e. tax measures that would go to the ballot) are still on the table, remains unknown at this point. According to Murray, a week ago he was sure his caucus would push ahead with the measure. “The recent news could change that, he said. Now it is a question.”

 

Legislative Floor Activity

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This past week we have seen most legislative activity spent on the floors of the House and Senate Chambers. Several pieces of legislation Evergreen has been following and advocating for have successfully made their way out of the Rules Committee and onto the floors of their respective chambers. Considered “regulatory relief” legislation, these bills are as follows:

HB 2259: Eliminating certain duplicative higher education reporting requirements. What is not a duplicative report, this bill would repeal the state requirements for institutions of higher education to report certian crime reports that are already being reported at the federal level.

HB 2585/SB 6401: Creating efficiencies for institutions of higher education. This bill deals with procurement procedures at institutions of higher education.

HB 2735: Regarding intermediate capital projects and minor works. This piece of legislation would increase the thresholds for predesign and minor works projects at institutions of higher education.

HB’s 2259 and 2585 passed unanimously off of the House Floor and will now move to the Senate for further consideration. 2585’s Senate companion, SB 6401, is awaiting consideration on the floor. HB 2735 is also awaiting consideration on the House floor.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 15, committee hearings pick back up in the House and Senate. Bills that are still alive will receieve hearings in their opposite chambers. We will continue to monitor them as we move through the remainder of the session.

On Thursday the Economic Revenue Forecast will be presented for the 1st quarter of 2012. The forecast will help determine that state of Washington’s budget. We will be closely watching that report.

 

New Face in Governmental Relations

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Greetings.  As the new Assistant Director of Governmental Relations at Evergreen, I wanted to briefly introduce myself. I will be working alongside Julie Garver as we advocate on behalf of Evergreen to the legislature and other state agencies. 

As we move through the session check back here for updates from Julie and me on our activities in government relations.

Thank you for letting me be a part of the Geoduck community, I look forward to the work ahead!

-Jane Wall

Trustees Visit Capitol; Attention Moves to the Floor

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As the week progresses members of both chambers have moved their work to their respective floors. The Senate and House have until February 14 to move bills to the opposite chamber. As a result, both floors are full of activity as legislators move bills forward in the process.

While the Legislature changed focus from committee to the floor, higher education introduced some new faces to policymakers this week to advocate for higher education.

Earlier this week trustees and regents from the public two- and four-year sectors traveled to Olympia to meet with legislators.

The trustees and regents met with several senators and representatives throughout much of the day to advocate on behalf of higher education in Washington. In addition the dialogue with legislators provided insight into the context and next steps around both policy and budgets.

 

2012 Supplemental Session: Week 5

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This week the Senate and the House turned their full attention to the fiscal committees. All bills with a fiscal impact must have passed out of their respective fiscal committee by February 7.

Over the last two days the Senate and House Ways & Means Committees have held marathon sessions to move bills forward in the process.  The primary exemption from this being any legislation that is deemed “NTIB” or “Necessary to Implement the Budget”.

Both committees have held public hearings and executive sessions on key bills that will impact higher education. Among the pieces of legislation that the Ways & Means Committees took action on include legislation to provide greater flexibility for institutions of higher education in areas such as procurement and travel and to establish a new state entity focused on higher education.

After February 7 the House and Senate will have until February 14 to bills from their respective floor to the opposite chamber.

House Education Appropriations Wraps Up Work

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This morning the House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee held the last public hearing and work session before the House deadline tomorrow – February 3.

Among the bills heard this morning was legislation to encourage the public baccalaureate institutions to design innovative approaches to increase the number of resident students gaining baccalaureate degrees and a bill to require institutions of higher education that already offer early registration to a certain population of students, to offer early registration to students who are eligible veterans or National Guard members.

The Committee followed the public hearing with a work session in which the Committee took action on several bills. Among the bills that will impact higher education is legislation focused on innovation at higher education, early registration for veterans at institutions for higher education, and flexibility with regard to regulations for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions and community and technical colleges.

More and More Bills

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The Washington House and Senate continue to steadily move through bills as deadlines pass and new deadlines near. 

Washington House

In the House the deadline to move policy bills from commitee and to either an appropriation committee or the House floor passed yesterday (January 31). With the passage of this deadline the House has refocused on the appropriation committees in preparation for the next deadline. On February 7, bills, unless necessary to implement the budget, must have moved out of the fiscal committees to the floor.

House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee

This morning the House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee held a public hearing on a handful of bills. 

Among the bills heard this morning was legislation to provide greater flexibility to Washington’s institutions of higher education – both two- and four-year public institutions. The bill would enact a handful of changes to the business-side of the house at institutions of higher education.

The public baccalaureate institutions and community and technical colleges testified in support of the legislation. Both sectors highlighted the opportunity this bill would provide to institutions to maintain a focus on the mission of their institutions to educate students at a time of limited resources and further state funding reductions.  The Governor’s Office expressed concerns about the need to align the bill with efficiencies in higher education.

Washington Senate

The Senate has a few more days before the first deadline of the session is met. All Senate bills must have moved from their respective policy committee by end of day on February 3.

Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development

As the Friday deadline nears, the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee met this afternoon. The Committee held a public hearing on legislation that specifies that the State Archives, to insure the maintenance of security and preservation standards and to promote efficiency and access consistent with the requirements of this chapter, must authorize  the operation or lease of an archive, records center, records warehouse, or records storage facility. In addition  any state agency with an archives, records center, records warehouse, or records storage facility must transfer the records to the state archives by July 1, 2013.

Evergreen, along with the University of Washington, testified with concerns with regard to the potential costs of requiring institutions to transfer records to the state archives. In addition Evergreen expressed concern about the potential negative impact on the College’s  current digital archive program.

Following the public hearing the Committee took action on several bills previously heard this session. Among the bills the Committee passed included legislation to establish a new state level entity for higher education, create financial literacy options for postsecondary education students, and provide for regulatory flexibility for institutions of higher education.