Today the Legislature met and passed another major deadline on the way to adjournment. All bills that were referred to a fiscal committee must have advanced from committee to the floor to be considered still in play.

There are a handful of bills that are deemed necessary to implement the budget that will be in play until the end, but for the majority of policy bills today was do or die.

Both the Senate and House fiscal committees held brief public hearings to advance a handful of bills to the next step in the process before the deadline this evening. The majority of time by both committees was spent taking action on the long list of bills that have been in front of the committees all week.

The Senate Ways & Means committee did not take action on any higher education bills related to the public, four-year institutions today. The House Appropriations advanced only a few, including legislation to remove tuition-setting authority from higher education institutions (HB 1696), align state residency laws for veterans with federal law (HB 1825), and creating a pilot project on performance-based scholarships in the State Need Grant program (HB 2041).

Next week the Senate and House will spend time on their respective floors to advance legislation from one chamber to the other chamber for further consideration.  Bills must have moved from their respective floors to the other chamber by the end of day on March 11.

Today the Senate and House appropriation committees held marathon sessions. Both committees continued public hearings on legislation and began the hard work of deciding what bills to advance to the floor.

The House began early this morning with a schedule to hear public testimony on thirty separate bills, followed by a long list of bills to be considered for executive action.

Among the bills the committee heard public testimony were: HB 1696 which returns tuition-setting authority for resident undergraduate students to the operating budget, HB 1812 which would require WSAC to design and implement a program that provides information to high-achieving, low-income high school studetns to increase applications from these students to public and independent, non-profit baccalaureate institutions in Washington, and HB 2041 which establishes a performance based pilot project within the State Need Grant program.

The House finished a long day by moving a handful of higher education related bills to the floor.  Among those bills advanced to the next stage was legislation to enhance public safety and reduce recidivism through postsecondary education (HB 1704),  and legislation that amends the definition of resident student to comply with federal requirements established by the veterans access, choice, and accountability act of 2014 (HB 1825).

While the Senate Ways & Means Committee heard only a few bills this afternoon, the majority of their time was spent advancing bills to the floor.

The Senate moved several higher education related bills:

• SB 5954: Creates the College Affordability Program (CAP). Removes tuition-setting authority for resident undergraduate students for the public baccalaureate institutions. Beginning in the 2015-16 academic year, tuition fees for resident undergraduates must be no more than the following: for community and technical colleges, 6 percent of the state’s average wage; for the regional universities and The Evergreen State College, 10 percent of the state’s average wage; and for the research universities, 14 percent of the state’s average wage. Beginning with the 2015-17 operating budget, the Legislature must appropriate to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and each four-year institution of higher education an amount that is at least equal to the total state funds appropriated in the 2013-15 biennium plus the reduction in revenues from resident undergraduate tuition operating fees received for the 2015-17 fiscal biennium under this act, adjusted for inflation. Additionally, the dollar value of the building fee must not be reduced below the level in the 2014-15 academic year, adjusted for inflation.
• SB 5851: Advances recommendations to improve and enhance certain components of the program, including data collection, outreach and program outcomes.
• SB 5561: A child of a veteran or National Guard member is eligible for a full tuition waiver at a Washington State institution of higher education if one of the child’s parents became totally disabled as a result of active service, was a prisoner of war, or lost their life as a result of serving in active duty, and the child: is a Washington domiciliary between the age of 17 and 26; or meets one of eight federal requirements for receiving education assistance.
• SB 5547: SNG recipients must maintain a 2.5 GPA to be eligible for renewal, unless the student attends The Evergreen State College (TESC). Students enrolled at TESC must meet the requirements of the college’s satisfactory academic progress policy to remain
  eligible for the SNG program.
• SB 5355: Amends the definition of resident student to comply with federal requirements established by the veterans access, choice, and accountability act of 2014.