Tag Archives: Budget

Evergreen Testifies in House Capital Budget Committee on Budget Proposal

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Dr. John Hurley, Vice President for Finance and Administration, testified during an evening committee meeting on the Capital Budget proposed by the House of Representatives.

After conveying his appreciation for the hard work the committee did in drafting the budget proposal, Dr. Hurley expressed support for the $200 million appropriated to create jobs in the K-12 sector and conveyed the institution’s hope that the investment would eventually benefit higher education. He also mentioned the halting of capital projects on Evergreen’s campus, but assured the committee that the institution would do its best to handle the cut. Before closing, Dr. Hurley took the opportunity to remind the committee of the biomass gasification investment that Evergreen requested the legislature partner with students on.

House Releases Operating Budget

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This afternoon the House released their proposed 2010 supplemental operating budget.

Highlights of the proposed operating budget are below. A more detailed account of the impact of the House’s proposed 2010 supplemental budget on Evergreen will be in a blog later today.

Highlights Higher Education Budget

  • Reduces state funding for colleges and universities by $40.8 million.
  • Maintains eligibility, grant awards, and the number of students anticipated to be served by the program.
  • Reduces funding for the State Work Study by $7.7 million. To achieve this savings the money a student can earn in an academic year is reduced.
  • Reduces funding for State-funded GEAR UP projects.
  • Reduces funding for the Health Professions scholarship and loan repayment program.
  • Suspends funding for the Future Teachers Scholarship program. Continues commitment to students currently recipients of this grant.
  • Reduces funding for the Community Scholarship Matching Grant Program.
  • Reduces funding for the Leadership 1000 Scholarship Programs.

Details on the House’s proposed 2010 supplemental operating budget is located on the House Ways & Means Committee website. The House did not release a revenue package today.

Senate Releases Operating Budget and Revenue Package

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This morning the Senate released their proposed 2010 supplemental operating budget and revenue package.

Highlights of both proposals are below. A more detailed account of the impact of the Senate’s proposed 2010 supplemental budget and revenue package on Evergreen will be in a blog later today.

Highlights Higher Education Budget

  • Restores funding to the State Need Grant
  • Reduces funding for public colleges and universities by $69.5 million
  • Increases worker retraining funds by $27.8 million
  • Reduces state work study by 30% in the second year of the biennium
  • Suspends funding for the health professional conditional scholarship and loan repayment program. Funding will continue to complete scholarship commitments to current recipients, but no new applicants will be selected.
  • Suspends the Educational Opportunity Grant. Funding will continue to complete grant commitments to current recipients, but no new applicants will be selected.
  • Continues funding to complete commitments to students who receive the Washington Scholar and Washington Award for Vocational Excellence funds but no new applicants will be selected for 2010. 
  • Suspends the Future Teachers Scholarship. Funding will continue for current recipeints who were awarded the scholarships in prior years to complete their studies.  
  • Suspends matching funds to support innovations in child care delivery at the public universities
  • Reduces the Passport to College program by 30%
  • Reduces funding by 30% to the State-funded GEAR UP Projects
  • Suspends the Western Interstate Compact for Higher Education Professional Student Exchange program. Funding is continued to maintain commitments to current recipients
  • Suspends funding for state work study experience for students considering careers in math and science instruction.
  • Suspends the state contribution in the second year of the biennium for the Foster Care Endowed Scholarship
  • Suspends funding for the Leadership 1000 program.

Highlights of Revenue Package

  • Anticipates $483 milliono in additional resources based on the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP).
  • Anticipates $87 million in additional federal resources from state savings related to Medicare Part D.
  • Assumes additional federal resources of approximately $12 million from two smaller sources of federal aid.
  • Transfers $269 million additional dollars from various funds to increase General Fund-State resources.
  • Transfers $229 million from the Budget Stabilization Account (a.k.a. Rainy Day Fund) to the state general fund. As a result there will be no ending fund balance in the Rainy Day Fund.
  • Incorporates a net increase in new revenue of $918 million. The net increase consists of three major components: (1) Narrows or eliminates numerous current tax preferences or “tax loopholes” ($518 million); (2) Impose a temporary 0.3% sales/use taxk increase ($313 million); and (3) The cigarette tax is increased by $1 per package ($86 million).

Details on the Senate’s proposed 2010 supplemental operating budget and revenue package are located on the Senate Ways & Mean’s Committee Webpage.  

Latest on State Budgets and Tuition Policy

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Tomorrow, Tuesday February 23 is a pivotal day for higher education in the 2010 supplemental legislative session.

In the morning, the Senate will release their proposed 2010 supplemental operating and capital budgets at a press conference. The press conference is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. in the Cherberg Building in Senate Hearing Room 4 and will be televised on TVW.

Following the release of the Senate proposed budgets, the House Higher Education Committee will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 6562 – the tuition policy bill.  The public hearing will take place beginning at 10:00 a.m. in Hearing Room A.

At lunch time, 12:15 p.m., the House will release their proposed 2010 supplemental operating budget in the John L. O’Brien Building in Hearing Room A.  The release of the House operating budget will also be televised on TVW.

In the afternoon, the House will release their proposed 2010 supplemental capital budget at 1:30. The budget will be released to media only but will be available along with the other proposed budgets on the Washington Legislature’s website.

Following the release of the Senate and House versions of the 2010 supplemental operating and capital budgets, public hearings will be held in the late afternoon and into the evening.

The Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold a public hearing on the Senate’s proposed operating and capital budgets in the late afternoon. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 4 of the Cherberg Building.

In the early evening, the House Ways & Means Committee will hold a public hearing on the House’s proposed 2010 operating budget. The public hearing will begin at 6:00 p.m. in Hearing Room A of the John L. O’Brien Building.

At the same time, the House Capital Budget will hold a public hearing on the House’s propsoed 2010 capital budget. The public hearing will begin at 6:00 pm. in the John L. O’Brien Building in Hearing Room C 

On Wednesday, February 24 the Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold another public hearing focused on the Senate’s proposed revenue package. The public hearing will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Cherberg Building in Senate Hearing Room 4. 

The House, at this time, is not expected to release a revenue package along with its proposed budgets.

Senate Concurs with House Version of Bill to Suspend I-960

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This evening the Senate concurred to the House amended version of Senate Bill 6130.

Senate Bill 6130 temporarily suspends tax-limiting Initiative 960 in its entirety.  The passage of the bill publicly indicates the Legislature’s intent to raise revenue in the 2009-2011 fiscal biennium.  From the effective date through July 1, 2011, any action or combination of actions by the Legislature that raises taxes may be taken with the approval of a majority of members elected to each house of the Legislature.

The final version of Senate Bill 6130 passed by both chambers reinstates the public notification requirements for tax and fee increases through July 1, 2011.

Senate Bill 6130 now goes to the Governor for her signature.

Legislature Week 7: What’s Happening

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The seventh week of the 2010 supplemental session will be focused on the release of the House and Senate proposed 2010 supplemental budgets for operating and capital.

The House is expected to release their capital and operating budgets on Monday. Though it is unclear, the Senate is likely to release their budgets on Monday as well.  Public hearings and executive sessions on the budgets will follow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The beginning of the week continues the Legislature’s focus on moving bills from the opposite chamber through the policy committees in preparation for the policy committee cut-off (House cut-off February 23 and Senate cut-off February 26).

Overlapping slightly will be a resurgence of fiscal committee meetings as policymakers take action on the budgets and prepare for the next legislative deadline .  All fiscal committees must move policy bills to either the floor or an appropriation committee by March 1. 

The focus of the higher education policy committees (i.e. House Higher Education and Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development) will be to move several bills impacting Washington’s institutions of higher education out of committee and either to the floor for consideration or to an appropriation committee. 

In addition, the appropriations committees (i.e. Senate Ways & Means and House Ways & Means) will meet to continue their work on budget related matters.

Bills Must Move by 5:00 p.m.

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Today at 5:00 p.m.  the third cut-off of the 2010 session will come to fruition. By end of day today the Senate and House must have moved bills from their chamber of origin to the opposite chamber for consideration.

The Senate and the House have been on the floor since February 10 moving bills forward through the process. Between 25-30% of the bills Evergreen has tracked this session remain active and have moved onto the next step in the process.  Many of these bills have been the focus on the blogs leading up to today.

So what is next. Tomorrow policy committees in both the House and Senate charge full steam ahead on moving bills from the opposite chamber to either the floor or an appropriations committee.  Legislative policy committees will have one week to hold public hearings and executive sessions on the bills referred to their committees.

At the same time those of us on The Hill await the presentation of Governor Gregoires’ proposed plan for revenue.  Word on the street is that Gregoire will release a series of tax proposals to buy back approximately $800 million in state programs and services sometime this week.

In addition, the House and Senate are expected to release their proposed 2010 supplemental budgets soon. Rumor has it the proposed budgets could be released as early as Thursday and as late as Monday.

Legislature Moves Bills as Deadline Looms and Governor Signs Cost Savings Bills into Law

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Today Governor Gregoire signed three bills  intended to provide costs savings into law – House Bill 2998, House Bill 2921, and Senate Bill 6382 and the Senate and the House continued their long hours on the floor.

The bills signed by the Governor seek additional state savings by suspending state employee monetary performance-based awards through June 30, 2011; modifying appropriations for 2009-11 (does not impact Evergreen) by reducing approprations by $45.4 million; and continuing the freeze on salary and wage increases for exempt and Washington Management Service (WMS) employees of state agencies and institutions of higher learning is extended through June 30, 2011.

The House and Senate moved more bills forward in the legislative process ranging from greener cleaning products in state facilities to state information systems.

House Bill 2818 requires state agencies to purchase and use cleaning products having properties that minimize potential impacts to human health and the environment. HB 2818 passed with a vote of 73-25. Evergreen supports this bill which carries forth the sustainable practices in place at the College to other state agencies. 

Senate Bill 6579 creates the Information Systems Improvement Committee to develop recommendations for improving information technology and systems across state and local governments, and develop an action plan to build consensus and support for the recommendations. A report of the Committee’s work is due September 2011. Sb 6579 passed with a vote of 48-0.

Finally, two bills were introduced – HB 3185 and SB 6857 – and referred to their respective higher education policy committees.  The bills do away with the Higher Education Coordinating Board and transfer the current work of the HECB to the newly created  Student Financial Assistance Board, Office of Financial Management, and Workforce Education & Training Board.  The bills are companion bills, which means they are the exact same bill introduced in each chamber.

Revenue Forecast Released – State Deficit Ticks Up to $2.8 billion

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Today the Washington Economic & Revenue Forecast Council released the February economic and revenue forecast.

The forecast for state funds for the 2009-11 biennium is $118.2 milion less than expected in the last forecast in November.  The reduction in state revenue is down because of a $149.7 milllion reduction associated with the DOT Foods Supreme Court decision. The increase in caseloads, the DOT Court decision, and other factors resulted in the net loss of $118 million.

If only economic factors were considered the forecast would be up by $31.5 million.

The forecast shows that economic events and revenue collections continue to unfold as was anticipated in November. However, Washington’s economy is still in the early stages of recovery so risks reported in the preview released February 5 remain serious.

Details

  • Continued tight credit for small businesses poses a significant challenge for recovery and will slow down the recovery in jobs.
  • Though consumer confidence is improving, this is tentative. Confidence is expected to continue to improve as the job situation improves.
  • House marketing indicators are signaling a potential turnaround. Single family housing starts, sales and prices have begun to firm-up, despite the overhang of excess housing which has yet to be absorbed.
  • The state’s economy continues to lose jobs but the rate has slowed to a trickle in recent months and growth in some sectors has already turned positive.
  • Construction employment continues to decline. It is estimated there is a one-year lag between turning points in permits and turning points in housing related construction employment.
  • Washington’s manufacturing sector is poised for a rebound
  • Washington’s personal income is now growing moderately.

Though things seem to be improving it is important to note that downside risks remain significant.

Senate Ways and Means Marathon – Tuition Policy and Teacher Preparation

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This afternoon the Senate Ways & Means Committee held public hearings on twenty-seven different bills with plans to move out of committee nearly nineteen bills.

The stars of this afternoon’s hearing were two education related bills. 

Senate Bill 6562 a.k.a. the tuition policy bill. SB 6562 authorizes the University of Washington, Washington State University, and the Western Washington University governing boards to set tuition rates. The average annual compounded rate of change of undergraduate tuition fees may not exceed 9 percent based on the previous 15 years, or 14 percent in any one year.

The Committee on Higher Education Performance is created and authorized to approve performance agreements. The performance agreement must be six years in duration. Annual adequate performance as determined by the committee is required to maintain tuition setting authority. The committee is composed of the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, Senate Ways and Means Committee, House Higher Education Committee, and House Education Appropriations.

The UW, WSU, and WWU must waive full-time tuition fees for resident undergraduate students based on family and state median family incomes. Waivers of full time tuition fees for resident undergraduate students are provided on a graduated scale in 4.5 percent increments based on state median family income and the institution’s tuition fee rate. The waivers must be reduced by the amount of any state need grant, federal, state, and institutional scholarships, grants, and waivers. Such waivers are exempt from tuition waiver limitations.

Tuition fee setting authority remains the same as current law for Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, the Evergreen State College, and the community and technical colleges.

The State Actuary presented to the committee the potential impact on the Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) Program.  The State Actuary, given the assumptions in the bill, concluded there is virtually no risk of the GET Program running out of assets over the next 50 years if the program remains open and all other current policies and provisions remain unchanged. The one cautionary note shared by the State Actuary was that the impact may differ if purchaser behavior changes.

President Emmert (UW), President Floyd (WSU), and Trustee Phil Sharpe (WWU) testified in support of the bill. Each one stated that the bill provided the balance needed between a quality education and an accessible education for Washingtonians. 

Members of the Senate Ways & Means Committee asked several questions, including the current percentage of state funds that make up the budget of those institutions in the bill and how under these policy changes policymakers can be assured that  student-debt load would not rise and economic and ethnic diversity would not decline. In addition members asked whether or not the tuition setting authority in the bill allows the state to back away from future state support.  Additional questions posed included the impact on retention and the middle-income student population.

Charlie Earl, Executive Director, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the League of Education Voters also testified in support of the bill.  The Washington Student Association and students from WSU, UW, and WWU testified in opposition to the bill. Students raised concerns regarding the increases in tuition identified in the bill and the fiscal pressure that will be placed on funding for state financial aid.

Senate Bill 6696 comprises several policy changes to K-12 to make Washington more competitive for Race to the Top dollars. The House proposed similar legislation, but disaggregated the policy changes among three bills – HB 3059, 3068, 3035.

Senate Bill 6696 seeks policy and structural changes in the areas of school and teacher evaluation, assessment, and preparation.  Of importance to Evergreen are the policy changes to teacher preparation programs. In particular the bill would require Evergreen’s teacher preparation programs to offer an alternate route program, which may negatively impact the College.  If grants and Race to the Top dollars are not received, Evergreen would be left to shoulder the costs of developing and implementing this program with no additional funds. Evergreen proposed a change to the language that would make offering alternate route programs permissive. The change in language was not included in the final bill approved by the committee and passed to the floor.

Evergreen also kept an eye on several other bills.

  • SSB 6702 makes available educational programs for juveniles confined in adult jails. Each school district, within which there exists an adult jail, must provide a program of education for juveniles confined therein. Districts may contract with educational service districts, community and technical colleges, four-year institutions or other qualified entities to provide all or part of these services.
  • SSB 6761 implements the recommendations put forward by the Quality Education Council during the interim.
  • SSB 6362 requires the Legislature to identify ten government priorities to verify that state agencies and activities are performing at their highest efficiency. The ten priorities include improving: student achievement in K-12; quality and respect for the public workforce; value of state college or university education; health of state citizens; security of the state’s vulnerable children and adults; the economic vitality of businesses and individuals; statewide mobility of people, goods, information, and energy; safety of people and property; quality of the state’s natural resources; and cultural and recreational opportunities throughout the state. The State Auditor is required to select the highest priorities to audit and the lowest priorities to assess. In addition, the State Auditor is required to present its work plan at an open public meeting for evaluation and recommendations prior to commencing audits.
  • SB 6374 requires the Office of Financial Management (OFM) to include economic modeling or other procedures that take into account increased economic activity which may result from economic development contemplated in legislation  in fiscal note instructions.
  • SSB 5543 requires producers of mercury-containing lights (lamps, bulbs, tubes, or other devices containing mercury and providing illumination) sold in or into Washington to participate in product stewardship programs that are fully implemented by 2013.
  • SB 6843  temporarily suspends the two-thirds vote requirement for tax increases and permanently modifying provisions of Initiative Measure No. 960 for improved efficiency and consistency with state budgeting.
  • SB 6833 allows the Office of the State Treasurer to enter agreements with state agencies for investment by the Treasurer of funds not currently deposited with the Treasurer.  At this time higher education is exempt from the bill. Evergreen supports the bill in its current form.
  •  SB 6845 requires the collection and use of additional information regarding information technology projects, including  the requirement that OFM obtain specific information about IT projects, including current and future costs by category, estimated operating savings and other benefits, and estimated start and end dates.