Tag Archives: state legislature

Budget, Budget, Budget

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Budget was the key word today at the Legislature. The House Ways & Means Committee held a public hearing on the Governor’s proposed 2010 supplemental budget. The House Education Appropriations Committee held a work session on the same issue. Finally, House Capital Budget held a public hearing on a jobs creation bill that would benefit education in Washington.

Governor Gregoire addressed the House Ways & Means Committee this afternoon. She shared the challenges posed in her all-cuts budget and hopes she has for restoration of some programs and services through additional state and federal revenues.

The Council of Presidents and representatives from each of the four-year public baccalaureate institutions testified before the House Committee. Evergreen focused testimony on the impact of the reductions to date and the impact of additional cuts on students, faculty, and the institution proposed in the Governor’s 2010 supplemental budget. Evergreen emphasized the impact of the proposed reductions and eliminations of state financial aid programs on Greeners.

On the capital front, The Evergreen State College provided testimony in support of House Bill 2561. Senate Bill 2561 would allow the State Finance Committee to issue $861 million in general obligation bonds, to be known as Jobs Act Bonds, for the purpose of creating jobs by constructing capital improvements that lead to energy-related cost savings in public schools, state colleges and universities, and other public facilities. House Bill 2561 establishes a competitive grant process for public schools and higher education institutions to attain the funds bonded in the bill.

Evergreen supports House Bill 2561 because of its focus on sustainable energy projects and education. In addition, HB 2561 provides the opportunity for Evergreen to discuss with legislators the value of investing in sustainability focused projects and programs, such as Evergreen’s Biomass Gasification Project.

Finally, The Evergreen State College attended a work session of the House Education Appropriations Committe focused on the impact to education of the Governor’s proposed 2010 supplemental budget.

Governor Shares Her Vision of the State for the Next Year

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Governor Gregorie addressed the state this afternoon in her annual State of the State. In her address she called out the challenges Washington has and continues to face combined with solutions that Washington should explore to move the state forward.

Gregoire argued that jobs are the way out of this recession for Washington and Washingtonians. She proposed the creation of 40,000 new jobs this year.

How will this be done? By attracting $2 billion in investments, building on a long tradition in Washington of attracting capital and intellectual investments, especially in areas such as biotechnology, health care, and clean energy.

In addition, the Governor is supporting an employee tax credit for each full-time hire a business makes, an investment in a green building program focused on retrofitting, and efforts in streamlining permit processes.

Governor Gregoire also spoke to streamlining government. Included in this effort is the elimination of over 70 boards and proposed legislation to eliminate several more. In addition, she proposed merging state agencies and moving programs to better align missions and service to citizens and communities.

Finally, she asked the Legislature to budget with Washingtonians in mind. She urged the Legislature to meet Washingtonians half way and reach out to the vulnerable, especially those who need the most.

Governor Gregoire stated that the balanced budget proposed in December closes the door to higher education to 12,300 students. She called for the restoration of the State Need Grant, the provision of tuition setting flexibility to ensure the competitiveness of higher education institutions, and the appropriation of dollars for worker training at the community and technical colleges.

She closed by stating that she plans to release a budget this afternoon that includes revenue options to offset the all-cuts budget released in December, which will include federal dollars, tax revenues, or a combination of both.

Governor Gregoire’s State of the State address

Legislature Week 1: What’s Happening

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The Legislature is doing anything but dragging its feet this session. Several work sessions and public hearings are scheduled on critical issues that impact higher education. To learn more follow the links below.

This week the focus of the appropriations committees (i.e. Senate Ways & Means and House Ways & Means will be a review of the Governor’s proposed supplemental budget, released in mid-December.

In addition, the higher education policy committees (i.e. House Higher Education and Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development) plan to tackle several critical issues impacting Washington’s institutions of higher learning, including high skills and wages, tuition policy, budget, governance, and technology.

2010 Supplemental Session Begins in Washington

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The 2010 supplemental session began today in Olympia. A quick “101” regarding the Washington Legislature. Each even-numbered year the Washington State Legislature meets for sixty days to make technical corrections, introduce policy bills needed, and rebalance the buget if required. This session all of these are topics of discussion.

This week the focus of the appropriations committees (i.e. Senate and House Ways & Means, House Education Appropriations) will be a review of the Governor’s proposed supplemental budget, released in mid-December.

In addition, the higher education policy committees plan to tackle several critical issues impacting Washington’s institutions of higher learning, including high skills and wages, tuition policy, budget, governance, and technology.

Stay tune for the latest news from The Hill…..

Assembly Days at the State Legislature

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The 61st Legislature convened last week for the last time before the regular session begins in January. Capitol campus was buzzing with activity as representatives, staff, lobbyists and interest groups packed parking lots and committee hearing rooms to start the very difficult conversation of governance in 2010.

Part of that discussion is with the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), which recently completed Tuition and System Design studies for submittal to the legislature. At a November 19 meeting at Renton Technical College, representatives from the public institutions of higher learning asked for more input in the tuition policy report, and met last week to draft a new proposal. The contents will push for a higher commitment from the State of Washington to fund higher education and improve access to all students.

Paramount in this process is the conversations between stakeholders and decision makers, and on Thursday several lawmakers attended a presentation and breakfast organized by the United Faculty of Washington State and Washington Student Association. Also in attendance were representatives from K-12 and a handful of Evergreen students. Suggestions were solicited on how to deal with the challenge of the budget crisis, and legislators offered creative solutions. The discussion also centered around how to keep Washington competitive in the larger higher education community.

On Friday Evergreen Provost Don Bantz testified in front of  the House of Representatives Committee on Higher Education on the HECB’s System Design study. Don was part of the work group that created the study, and he emphasized Evergreen’s unique position among state institutions while speaking highly to the content and quality of the report.

Assembly Days wrapped up just in time for Governor Gregoire’s press conference this morning in which she proposed the first of the several budgets the State of Washington will consider in the coming months.