The Washington House will release a proposed 2011-13 operating budget on Monday, April 4.
Representative Ross Hunter, Chair of Ways & Means and the lead House budget-writer, will hold a press conference at 12:15. It is expected that the budget will be available soon after the press conference.
The press conference will be followed at 3:30 by a public hearing on the proposal in the Ways & Means Committee.
This week the budget committees in the Washington Senate and House are busy. On Friday (April 1) lawmakers must have moved bills from fiscal committees to the floor to keep the bills alive. The exception is any legislation that is necessary to implement the budget.
Both the Senate and House have held public hearings and executive sessions on bills that would impact higher education. Among these bills is legislation that would provide the option to four-year institutions of higher education to develop accelerated baccalaureate programs, a bill that expands academic flexibility to men and women in the National Guard, and legislation to include the Washington College Bound Program in the caseload forecast.
The Legislature will quickly turn to floor action in preparation for the next deadline on April 12. This marks the last day to take floor action on a bill that started in the opposite chamber. Most bills, with the exception of those necessary to implement the budget, will require some floor action prior to April 12.
As bills move forward, some of the most important bills – the budget bills – remain absent from the conversation. It has been nearly two weeks since the March revenue forecast which was nearly $700 million lower for the 2011-13 biennium and approximately $85 million lower in this current fiscal year.
New rumors on The Hill suggest that the House may release their operating budget on Monday (April 4) . While the Democrats and Republicans are trying to identify areas of agreement, there is talk that the House Republicans may roll out an alternative to the House Democrat’s budget when it is released.
In the Senate the Democrats and Republicans are working together to write a budget. Both have indicated that the Senate will wait for the House to release its proposal before they release the Senate budgets.
On the capital budget funds will be tight. There is great competition for fewer dollars. To boost capacity in the capital budget legislators are considering moving dedicated account funds into the general fund and there is some discussion of including property taxes in the base for capacity-counting purposes with other trade-offs to maintain the state’s bond rating.
A big issue with regard to the capital budget will be the fate of the bond bill. Democrats will need Republican votes to pass a bond bill which is required to authorize legislation to finance most of the capital budget through bond sales. A 60% vote is needed to pass the bill.
The capital budget is expected to follow the release of the operating budget in both chambers.
Last week, The College Promise Coalition held a panel discussion at the Thurston Community Television (TCTV) station regarding higher education and the budget.
Panel members included the following community leaders who spoke to the effects of budget cuts on higher education:
The Evergreen State College, Saint Martin’s University, and South Puget Sound Community College partnered with the College Promise Coalition to bring the event to Olympia.
The broad cast of the event is availabe on demand (Select “Keeping our Promise” in both the drop down menus).
In addition the program will be broadcasted as follows:
Similar events have taken place throughout Washington in recent weeks. Please visit http://www.collegepromisewa.com/ to learn more about the College Promise Coalition.
Senator Kilmer- Vice Chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee – explains some of the economic challenges that were discussed at the town hall meetings he hosted last week with Rep. Larry Seaquist- Chair of the House Higher Education Committee- in Gig Harbor, Port Orchard and Bremerton.
Yesterday the U.S. Senate passed a three-week stop-gap budget bill with a vote of 87-13. The bill will fund the federal government through Apirl 8 and contains an additional $6 billion in reductions.
The U.S. House passed the bill earlier this week. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.
The release of the March forecast this week opens the door for the release of proposed biennial budgets next week. The House will release their biennial budgets first this session.
While both the biennial transportation budget and the capital budget (March 23) have been scheduled for a public hearing and executive session, no actions have been scheduled to date for the operating budget.
The budget will be the center of focus next week, both in terms of the biennial budget and the move from policy committees to fiscal committees.
All policy bills from the opposite chamber must be moved either to an appropriations committee or the floor by the end of Friday, March 25 (one week from today). The Legislature will then have a week to move all bills from the appropriations committee to the floor. Bills with a fiscal impact must be moved to the floor by the end of Friday, April 1.
To this end this week will be filled with a mix of public hearings and executive sessions to move bills forward as the deadline looms. Please see the links below for a list of all the hearings that might be of interest.
Washington’s state budget took a large hit this morning. The March Economic & Revenue Forecast, released today, shows an additional $777.8 million decline in revenue between now and 2013.
The Forecast will require Washington to further reduce the budget for the current fiscal year by $79.8 million and by $698 million in 2011-13.
The forecast widens the state’s budget shortfall from $3.6 billion to $5.5 billion. The shortfall is the difference between projected state revenues and what it would cost to continue state services at current levels, plus pay for wage and benefit increases, new programs and higher costs to keep up with inflation and population growth.
Washington’s State Chief Economist, Arun Raha stated that the revenue forecast is primarily down because the economy is not recovering as quickly as previously expected. In addition, Raha cited conflict in the Middle East and the subsequent hike in oil prices as well as the economic impact to the state from the natural disasters in Japan as contributors.
The latest revenue projections are in line with what budget writers had been expecting. Though budget action has not been scheduled for next week, it is likely to take place soon so stay tuned.
Tomorrow the Washington State Forecast Council will be presented with the latest revenue forecast. Dr. Arun Raha, Washington’s State Economist will present the forecast at Noon.
Initial projections for the 2011-13 biennium were estimated at $4.6 billion when the legislative session began in January. Since January lawmakers have passed a second supplemental budget reducing the budget gap in the current fiscal year to approximately $250 million and have been planning on an additional $500 million shortfall in the latest revenue forecast for the 2011-13 biennium.
However, it is expected that $500 million may be a low ball figure, with some expecting the shortfall to range between $1-2 billion.
If the forecast is not significantly greater than anticipated, the House plans to release their proposed biennial budgets on March 22, hold public hearings on the proposed budget as soon as March 23, and move the bill out of Committee by March 24. A vote on the budget on the House floor is tentatively scheduled for March 26.
The budget discussions would then shift to the Senate.
Yesterday the U.S. House passed another short-term stop-gap spending bill .
With a vote of 271-158, the House passed a three-week continuing resolution containing $6 billion in cuts. The resolution (H.J. Res 38) will expire on April 8.
None of the cuts included in this latest resolution would impact student aid or funding for the U.S. Department of Education.
This afternoon the House Ways & Means Committee held a work session on higher education funding.
Committee members received several presentations focused on the funding trends and impacts of the Governor’s proposed budget for the two-year and four-year public higher education sectors and state financial aid programs.
Mike Reilly, Council of Presidents, shared with legislators the impact of state funding trends and the Governor’s most recent budget proposal on the six, public baccalaureate institutions.
Since the 2007-09 biennium state funding for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions has been cut by nearly $500 million or 28%. Current state funding is at the same level as it was in the 1999-01 biennium.
The Governor’s proposed 2011-13 budget would cut an additional $380 million in state funds (a reduction of nearly 50% in state support since 2007-09) leaving state support of approximately $1 billion as part of a proposed $32.1 billion state budget.
The Committe also heard from the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, the Higher Education Coordinating Board and higher education legislative fiscal and policy staff.
Legislators asked a variety of questions ranging from what is the elasticity of tuition at the institutions to how does a change in focus from enrollment (inputs) to degrees (outputs) impact quality and access.