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House and Senate Democrats Release Proposed Operating Budget

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Today the Washington State House, in partnership with the Senate Democrats, released a proposed biennial operating budget for the 2013-15 biennium.

Overall the proposed budget addresses the state’s $2.6 billion budget problem through policy enhancements, fund transfers, reduced spending, and increased resources.

The House proposal makes $1.5 billion in additional policy enhancements, the majority of which are in K-12 ($955 million). Among the investments made include:

  • $839 million to K-12 to fund increased materials, supplies, and operating costs; reduce early elementary class size (K-3); fund pupil transportation and expand all-day kindergarten
  • $146 million for home care worker compensation
  • $68 million for postsecondary education financial aid
  • $30 million for Early Childhood Education Assistance Program enhancements
  • $25 million for debt service on anticipated new capital projects
  • $24 million for state parks

These enhancements as well as the other parts of the budget are funded through a combination of savings, reduced spending, and increased resources.

  • $509 million in fund transfers
  • $1.6 billion in reduced spending
  • $339 billion in increased revenue

The House proposal leaves $606 million in projected total reserves.

Higher Education

The House proposal makes an investment in higher education that moves in the right direction. The budget provides $11 million in targeted funding for state instructional support.

The proposed budget assumes a  3% tuition increase for all of the four-year public institutions and the community and technical colleges.

The budget includes language requiring the Office of Financial Management to convent a joint committee to propose an incentive funding model for the public baccalaureate institutions.

Finally the budget makes an investment in financial aid including the College Bound Scholarship program and the State Need Grant.

The House proposal continues the suspension of some small state financial aid programs from 2011-13 including suspension of Washington Scholars, WAVE, Health Professional Scholarships, and Future Teacher Scholarships.

Evergreen

For Evergreen the House’s proposed budget would allow tuition for undergraduate residents to increase by 3% per year of the biennium. The College may increase tuition beyond this level but would be required to invest in institutional financial aid.

In addition the budget appropriates $1.157 million for the purpose of instructional support. These funds include $405,000 in additional funds to support this effort and $752,000 that would come to the College if the proposed revenue budget (HB 2034) is passed.  If the revenue package is not passed by the Legislature, then the $752,000 would be met within existing college funds. Evergreen is required to provide a report by September 1, 2014 that provides the specific details on how these amounts were spent in the preceding fiscal year and any process changes or best-practices implemented in the College.

Finally, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, a public service center of Evergreen, is funded to support a comprehensive study of the financial incentives promoting distributed generation in Washington and to provide primary staff support for a K-12 funding task force.

Next Steps

The House is expected to move the  proposed biennial operating budget out of committee this afternoon followed by a vote on the floor on either Thursday or Friday.

Action Picks Up on The Hill

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Today the Washington Legislature went from zero to sixty in terms of action.

After nearly three weeks of little action- though budget negotiations continued – the House Democrats and Senate Democrats released a proposed operating budget and a smaller revenue package.

The release of a proposed budget comes on the heels of action earlier this week and late last week  regarding the estate tax. Late last week the House Finance Committee moved legislation to fix a loophole in the state’s estate tax that was caused by a Supreme Court decision earlier this year. The Senate Ways & Means committee voted on its response to the court decision earlier this week.

Yesterday Governor Inslee held a press conference urging movement towards a final budget. With one week left the Governor expressed his increasing concern, especially given the differences between the Senate and the House to address the estate tax, about the lack of progress.  He stated again and again that seven days remain to get the job done.

Today the House and Senate Democrats released a proposed operating budget and revenue package at noon followed by a public hearing on the revenue package and an executive session on the proposed budget.

It is expected that the House will convene on the floor tomorrow and Friday to pass the proposed budget and revenue package as well as some additional policy bills. The Senate is also expected to convene to consider its proposed estate tax legislation and a bill to increase penalties for DUIs.

Washington Special Session Nears Final Week

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Today marks the 22nd day of the 30-day special session. The session is scheduled to end a week from tomorrow.

While budget negotiators continue to meet, there is no sign of a final budget to date.  Technically the Legislature is in violation of state law entering June without a budget.

The primary area of disagreement continues to be whether or not  new revenue is needed to balance the budget.

If a budget agreement doesn’t emerge this week a second special session might be necessary because of the time it takes to pass a budget. With the chances of a second special session increasing, so have discussions around next steps and impacts about what happens if state government enters a new fiscal year (July 1) without a budget.

In the meantime, lawmakers are teeing up some other issues for a likely floor vote including an omnibus bill to address impaired driving.

Washington Senate Committee Moves Higher Education Legislation

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Today the Washington Senate Ways & Means Committee took action on two higher education bills.

Senate Bill 5941 would reduce tuition by 3% for undergraduate resident students for the 2013-15 biennium at the public baccalaureate institutions and community and technical colleges. Beginning in 2015-16 through 2018-19 the public baccalaureates and the community and technical colleges could not raise resident, undergraduate tuition cannot exceed inflation.

The bill also allows for the following exception if SB 5942 passes. If the Legislature does not provide sufficient funding to meet baseline funding levels then the institutions can increase resident undergraduate tuition for the following academic year necessary to achieve the baseline funding levels.

Senate Bill 5942 would create a baseline level of funding beginning in 2014 that is equal to the maintenance level appropriations in the 2013-15 budget expressed as a per-resident student rate based on a three-year average of the number of actual FTE enrolled resident students. The per-resident student is also required to increase each fiscal year by the rate of inflation.

Also in 2014 any funds available after meeting the baseline levels or increases to higher education would be required to be distributed based on performance to institutions. The funds would be distributed on a proportional basis and for the public four-years based on a three-year average performance on five metrics.

  1. Average time to degree for undergraduate students
  2. Number of undergraduate high-demand degrees produced
  3. Freshman retention
  4. Low-income populations
  5. Space utilization

Finally the bill would establish a work group to review the per-resident student rates utilized to establish baseline funding and make recommendations for achieving equal funding for similar institutions by the 2017-19 biennium.

Three amendments were offered to SB 5942, though none of the amendments were passed.

  • Would strike the entire bill and replace it with language to direct the Office of Financial Management to convene a technical incentive funding model task force to design an incentive funding model to provide new incentive funding to four-year institutions of higher education that demonstrate improvement on existing performance measures and to control resident undergraduate tuition growth.
  • Would make students who are enrolled or accepted for enrollment for at least three-quarter credits or the equivalent semester hours, in a qualifying higher education program, eligible for the State Need Grant program.
  • Would require the State Auditor to conduct a comprehensive financial audit of UW and WSU.

Both bills were moved out of committee and to the Senate floor for further consideration.

 

Halfway Through Special Session

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Today marks the fifteenth day of the 30-day special session. This week the Capitol experienced an uptick in action.

This morning the House Finance Committee met to move legislation to make changes to the state’s estate tax for married couples.

House Bill 2064 is in response to the Bracken Decision — a state Supreme Court ruling that allows a spouse to transfer assets to a surviving spouse without paying taxes if they’re using a certain type of trust, known as a Qualified Terminable Interest Property trust. As a result of this ruling the state can no longer collect estate taxes on the trust when the surviving spouse dies. If passed the legislation would make changes to the estate tax law to prevent such refunds in the future

It is estimated that the decision could cost the state $160 million dollars over the next two years.  The Washington Department of Revenue will begin issuing tax refund checks in June worth about $40 million dollars because of the decision.

It is possible that the Washington House will take up the bill on the floor tomorrow.

In the Senate legislation is expected to be heard before the Ways & Means Committee on Friday regarding the estate tax.  Also on Friday the Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold a hearing on two higher education related bills.

Senate Bill 5936 would create a performance funding framework for higher education and Senate Bill 5937 would decrease tuition for resident undergraduate students by 3% for the 2013-15 fiscal biennium and limit future growth of tuition for this category of students to inflation.

Governor Speaks to WASAC

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Late this week, Governor Inslee addressed the Washington Student Achievement Council. The Governor shared with the Council his vision for education – early learning through graduate school.

Inslee opened with the recognition that pockets of excellence and innovation exist throughout the state and that it is his intention to spread these pockets to the entire state. To do this Governor Inslee put forth two primary goals for the Council.

The first is focused on alignment. The Governor asked the Council to work towards greater alignment within the education system to allow for the opportunity to take advantage of the new economy. In particular, to educate students so that they are equipped throughout their education with the skills necessary to take advantage of the new economy.

The second is centered on lifetime education. The Governor spoke to the need to shift away from focusing on one sector of the education system (i.e. K-12) and build a high quality lifetime education system at all levels. The intention is to create a system that allows Washingtonians to tap into education throughout their lifetimes and to recognize that education is changing every few years in fundamental ways.

The Governor also spoke about the opportunities that exist to partner with business to achieve the goals he identified.

Inslee followed his opening comments with the introduction of the newly appointed citizen board members to the board and shared with them and the other members of the Council that he believes there are challenges in education that are facing Washington, but that the culture of innovation in this state offers the chance to meet these challenges head on.

In closing the Governor highlighted his commitment to completion, closing the opportunity gap, and working to provide an education system that allows students to envision beyond high school their goals and dreams.  He closed by saying “no excuses, no exceptions, and excellence for all”.

Special Session Enters Second Week

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The Washington Legislature entered the second week of a 30-day special session that began on May 13.  The special session is approximately a third over and a final budget compromise looks to still be a ways off.

Since special session convened budget writers from both chambers have met with Governor Inslee to reach common budget assumptions and discuss policy legislation for the session.

Special session is scheduled to adjourn on June 12.

In the meantime, Governor Inslee met today’s deadline to sign or veto all the bills passed by the Legislature before it adjourned its regular session last month.

Inslee has been steadily signing bills and made his first major veto on Monday, of $81 million in the transportation budget for the controversial bridge over the Columbia River – planning money he says isn’t needed unless the Legislature actually approves enough money to build the new bridge.

Washington Legislature Convenes for Special Session

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This week the Washington State Legislature convened for a 30-day special session.

Since the Legislature adjourned two weeks ago little progress has been made towards a final budget. Budget writers for each chamber did meet a few times since Sine Die, but no deal was reached. The differences between the three-corners (i.e. Governor, Senate and House) remain vast as legislators begin this next phase in the process.

Yesterday, both the Senate and the House convened to caucus. The Governor and the Senate Majority Coalition each held press conferences which echoed what has been in the atmosphere since Sine Die, no significant progress has been made; Though both shared their intention to work out a final budget within the 30-day special session.

Not much is expected this week or even next week. No floor votes are scheduled this week, but a few committees are meeting.

One bit of news is a revised special session agenda for the Governor. Governor Inslee announced a narrower focus for the next 30-days than the wide open one he declared at the end of the regular session. The top three priorities for the Governor include: a budget compromise, a new transportation revenue package, and tougher drunk driving legislation.  The Governor still hopes that action will be taken on the DREAM Act and the Reproductive Parity Act.

The 30-day special session is set to end on June 12. If a budget compromise is not reached another special session will be called.

 

Governor Names New Board Members to WASAC

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This week Governor Inslee announced a new slate of appointments to the Washington Student Achievement Council.

Earlier this year, the Governor surprised many people by removing four board members, all of the non-student gubernatorial appointed members, appointed by Governor Gregorie to the board.

The new appointees include:

  • Jeff Charbonneau, a math and science teacher who was recently named National Teacher of the Year and who currently teaches at Yakima Valley’s Zillah High School.
  • Maud Dodson, a former Seattle deputy mayor and chief of staff from 1998-2011 who is the current President and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
  • Karen Lee who served for five years as the head of the Washington State Employment Security Department and now heads Pioneer Human Services.
  • Dr. Susana Reyes, currently the assistant superintendent of the Pullman School District but who will join the Mead School District in July

The new appointees will begin work immediately, joining other board members which include a student plus representatives from K-12, the public baccalaureates, the community and technical colleges, and private institutions, for the Council’s May meeting.

 

House Republican Caucus Elects New Leadership

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This weekend the Washington House Republican Caucus elected new leadership.

House Republicans elected Snohomish County Representative Dan Kristiansen as their new minority leader at a reorganizaiton meeting on Saturday. Kristiansen replaces Rep. Richard DeBolt  from Chehalis who stepped down earlier this month.

In addition the Caucus elected Moses Lake Rep. Judy Warnick as Caucus Chair after Kristiansen moved to his new leadership position. Rep. Liz Pike from Camas stepped down as Assistant Floor Leader and Pierce County Rep. Steve O’Ban was elected to fill her position. Rep. Joel Kretz from Wauconda will remain as Deputy Leader.