Last night the Washington House passed a biennial capital budget and bond bill. The vote was strongly bipartisan -96-2.
The budget now goes to the Senate for further consideration.
This morning the House Capital Committee met and took executive action to advance a proposed biennial capital budget to the House floor.
The committee passed a substitute bill which makes new appropriations for 2015-17 totaling ($3.77 billion). The majority of the increase is financed from state general bonds ($2.17 billion) and the remaining from other funds ($1.6 billion). The increase authorizes state agencies to enter into alternative financing contracts ($313 million). The substitute also authorizes reappropriations for uncompleted projects approved in the prior biennia ($2.9 billion).
No changes were made to Evergreen’s appropriation in the capital budget.
The House’s proposed capital budget now moves to the floor for further consideration.
The Washington Senate is scheduled to release a proposed biennial operating budget tomorrow, March 31 at noon.
The Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed operating budget at 3:30 the same day.
This morning Evergreen testified in support of the House’s proposed biennial capital budget.
The House’s capital budget provides funding for several projects across higher education. This includes funding for three projects at Evergreen – Lecture Hall Renovation Construction, Lab I Basement Construction funding, and Seminar I Renovation Predesign. The budget also provides authorization to purchase the Tacoma Campus property.
In addition the budget includes funds to support facilities preservation, minor works, and preventative facility maintenance and building system repairs.
Overall the budget supports Evergreen’s focus and commitment to responsible stewardship of our public facilities and infrastructure to meet current technological needs and demands, and to provide the needed facilities and infrastructure to provide a quality educational experience for students.
The House Capital Budget committee will take executive action on the budget tomorrow morning in Committee.
On Friday, the Washington House released a proposed biennial capital budget for higher education. The House’s capital budget provides funding for several projects across higher education. This includes funding for three projects at Evergreen – Lecture Hall Renovation Construction, Lab I Basement Construction funding, and Seminar I Renovation Predesign. The budget also provides authorization to purchase the Tacoma Campus property.
In addition the budget includes funds to support facilities preservation, minor works, and preventative facility maintenance and building system repairs.
Next Steps
The House Capital Budget Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed capital budget on Monday, March 30 with action scheduled to move the budget to the House floor on Tuesday morning.
Late this afternoon the House postponed the public hearing and executive session on the proposed biennial operating budget.
The proposed operating budget, along with the proposed capital budget, will still be released tomorrow, March 27 at 11:30.
Both budgets are now scheduled to have a public hearing on Monday, March 30 with an executive session scheduled for Tuesday, March 31.
Stay tuned!
Next week the House and Senate will continue to advance policy legislation forward in the process. Both chambers have until April 1 to advance policy bills to either a fiscal committee or the floor of the opposite chamber.
The House and Senate Higher Education committees will each meet once to take final action on any policy legislation this session.
In addition, the House Capital Budget is scheduled for a public hearing on the House’s proposed biennial capital budget on Monday followed by an executive session on the budget on Tuesday.
It is expected that the Senate will release its budget proposals either sometime next week or early in the week after.
Finally between policy deadlines and budget news, the House and Senate fiscal committees will begin the long work of advancing bills to the floor. Both chamber must move all bills to the floor in the opposite chamber by April 7, unless the legislation is deemed necessary to implement the budget.
The Legislature passed another major deadline last night. All bills, unless necessary to implement the budget, must have moved to the opposite chamber. With this the Legislature also moved from policy mode to budget mode.
The Legislature has until April 27 in the regular session to pass a biennial operating, capital and transportation budget. The Senate took action to advance transportation in the last few weeks while on the floor, but the shape and size of the operating and capital budgets have yet to be determined. It is expected that the House will release a proposed biennial operating and capital budget at the end of March, to be followed by the Senate. Between now and then budget writers are talking and rumors are flying.
Until the budget releases steal the show, legislators will return to the committee structure to advance policy bills through policy committees, fiscal committees, and the floor. The next major deadline is April 1 – and this is no joke -when policy bills must have moved out of the opposite chamber’s committees and either to a fiscal committee or the floor to be considered “alive” this session.
Last week both the House and Senate advanced several higher education related bills to the opposite chamber for further consideration. In the final days of floor session, both chambers moved additional higher education related legislation.
Washington is nearly a month in to the 2015 legislative session. Activity abounds.
In the House, the 2015 supplemental budget passed off the floor late last week and the Appropriations Committee has held a public hearing on the Governor’s proposed biennial budget. In addition, the Capital Budget Committee took testimony on the Governor’s proposed biennial capital budget.
The House Higher Education Committee opened the legislative session with several work sessions focused on timely topics including access and affordability and areas of study that lead to good jobs – highlighting computer science, rural health care, and maritime industries. Beginning last week, the Committee began hold public hearings on legislation introduced this session. The focus of bills introduced this session have ranged from efficiencies and transparency within higher education to strategic planning to access and affordability policies.
The Committee will continue to hold public hearings and begin executive sessions through this week and likely most of next week as the first legislative deadline nears at the end of February.
The Senate has followed a similar path. The Senate Ways & Means Committee opened the session with a public hearing on the Governor’s biennial operating budget followed by two work sessions focused on higher education funding and capital construction. This week the Committee will hold a public hearing on the Governor’s proposed biennial capital budget.
The Senate Higher Education Committee also has taken time to focus on topics of the day in higher education, such as medical education, campus sexual assault prevention, and higher education funding. Beginning last week the committee focused on advancing legislation introduced this session, giving attention to a series of bills focused on financial aid and transparency. The committee will continue this work this week with hearings on sexual assault prevention legislation, tuition policy, and veterans.
Finally, the Committee has held a series of conversations with trustees and regents appointed by the Governor to serve on higher education related public boards.
This week President Obama released his FY16 budget. The budget includes several key investments to support the education continuum by investing in the expansion of high-quality early learning programs, increasing equity and opportunity for all students; supporting teachers and school leaders; and improving access, affordability and student outcomes in college.
The proposed budget includes several investments in higher education:
In addition to higher education, the budget makes several investments in early learning and K-12 education. Among the highlights is funding to support the Preschool for All program to provide universal high-quality preschool programs for all four year-old from low- and moderate-income families and the Teaching for Tomorrow program to support changes in how states and districts recruit and prepare new teachers and strengthen professional support for teachers throughout their career.
The President’s proposed budget now goes to The Hill for consideration.