Monthly Archives: April 2015

Senate Budget Proposal Awaits Vote on Floor

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The Washington Senate spent the wee hours of Friday morning on the floor debating a proposed biennial operating budget.  No final vote was taken on the budget.

Over seventy amendments were offered and five were passed.  The debate began with a vote to change the rules. Know as Rule 53, the rule change required a higher vote threshold for amendments to the operating budge.  The change required thirty votes to approve an amendment not a simple majority (25).

After nine hours of debate, a final vote on the budget was blocked.  A Senate procedural rule requires additional time before a bill can be voted on.

A final vote is expected some time next week.

Policy Deadline Passes onto Fiscal Committees and the Floor

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Yesterday marked the deadline for policy bills. All policy bills, unless they are deemed necessary to implement the budget (NTIB), must have moved from their respective policy committees to either an appropriation committee or the floor in the opposite chamber.

Both the Senate and House higher education committees have spent the last few weeks advancing bills to the next stage in the process.

Below is a brief glimpse of some of the bills that have advanced past today’s deadline.

    • HB 1138: Creating a task force on mental health and suicide prevention in higher education – Senate Ways & Means
    • HB 1696: Returns tuition-setting authority for resident undergraduate students to the operating budget – Senate Ways & Means
    • HB 1825: Aligns state residency policies with federal policies – Senate Ways & Means
    • SB 5133: Creates a review of higher education costs – House Appropriations
    • SB 5328: Changes the dissemination of financial aid information – House Rules
    • SB 5638: Modifies the requirements of the State Need Grant program to make the grant available to students enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a qualifying institution of higher education for at least three quarter credits, or the equivalent semester credits – House Rules

The bills that advanced this week from the policy committees, if moved to a fisacl committee, must move from committee to the floor by the end of the day on April 7.  Stay tuned!

Senate Advances Budget to Floor

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Last night the Senate Ways & Means committee took executive action to advance a proposed biennial operating budget to the Senate floor.

The committee passed a substitute bill which mostly made technical changes to the original bill.  The substitute includes a technical change to reporting language for Evergreen. The original language included reference to engineering, a program that the College does not offer. The substitute reflects this change and focuses the reporting language on computer science.  A correction Evergreen highlighted in testimony.

The Senate’s proposed operating budget now moves to the floor for further consideration.