Tag Archives: Washington Senate

Senate Releases Revised Budget

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This morning the Senate released a revised biennial budget and by the afternoon the Senate Ways & Means Committee advanced the budget to the floor.

The proposal makes a handful of changes based on the recent revenue forecast as well as an extension of the higher federal match for the Children’s Health Insurance Program combined with smaller updates and corrections. These changes are made to the proposal initially released by the Senate in April which spends $37.9 billion.

The proposal released today increases spending on policy initiatives by $242 million in the 2015-17 biennium.  The largest increases included: (1) $113 million in higher education, (2) $77 million in employee compensation, (3) $27 million in long term care and developmental disabilities and (4) $16 million in natural resources.

As it relates to higher education the new proposal provides an additional $99 million to implement the College Affordability Program in the first year of the biennium. In addition funding is provided to mitigate impacts on private schools from the financial aid changes proposed in the budget and makes changes based on updated information about current use of tuition waivers by institutions of higher education.

Washington Senate Honors President Purce with Resolution

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Yesterday morning a group of Washington’s leaders in higher education gathered in the North Gallery of the Washington Senate to honor President Purce and his more than two decades of service to higher education in Washington.

Seated next to his family and surrounded by colleagues including executive directors of the Council of Presidents, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, Washington Student Achievement Council and Washington Student Association, the Governor’s senior policy director for education, and members of Evergreen’s Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, the Washington Senate adopted Senate Resolution 8650 recognizing President Purce for his work.

The resolution stated, “Dr. Purce is an exemplar of a public service in higher education, with his twenty-six year career in Washington state.. (and) under Dr. Purce’s leadership, Evergreen has been consistently recognized as a national leader and model in the development of interdisciplinary learning communities…(his) professional legacy of true dedication towards higher education will continue to live on through the students and faculty he inspired and worked with.”

Several Senators rose in support of the Resolution and spoke to President Purce’s leadership, the power and strength of an Evergreen education, and perhaps most endearing to his personal commitment to the development and nurturing of relationships through his one-on-one engagement with policymakers, music and love of the outdoors.

Upon adoption of the Resolution, Senators and guests in the Gallery rose in a standing ovation to honor President Purce and denote how much he will be missed.

Next Week: Floor Action

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Next week the Washington House and Senate will spend long days on the floor.

The first half of the week will be dedicated to advancing policy bills, not necessary to implement the budget, from the floor to the Governor’s desk.  Both chambers have until the end of day on April 15 to move bills.  A word to the wise be cautious what you consider to be a “dead bill”, things can come back to life at anytime.

Once this deadline passes it will be full throttle to the ultimate deadline – sine die.  April 26 marks the end of the regular session.

So where do things stand.

To date, the House has passed a proposed biennial operating budget to the Senate. It is now in Senate Ways & Means.  No further action has taken place on revenue, which underlies the operating budget. The House Finance Committee is scheduled to meet a week from today.  The House also advanced, with a strong bipartisan vote, a biennial capital budget.  The capital budget is now in Senate Ways & Means.

The Senate has passed an operating budget to the House. It is now in House Appropriations. This past week the Senate released and advanced a capital budget proposal. The Senate “gut-n-stuffed” the House’s capital budget (HB 1115/116) with their proposal in committee late this week. It is expected the Senate will take up the bill on the floor next week.

Senate Releases Proposed Biennial Capital Budget

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This morning the Washington Senate released a proposed biennial capital budget for higher education. The Senate’s capital budget provides funding for several projects across higher education, authorizing $923.7 million ($558.7 million state bonds) in higher education facilities in the next biennium.

The Senate capital budget provides funding for three key 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 Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed capital budget this afternoon with action scheduled to move the budget to the Senate floor on tomorrow afternoon.

Senate Budget Proposal Awaits Vote on Floor

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The Washington Senate spent the wee hours of Friday morning on the floor debating a proposed biennial operating budget.  No final vote was taken on the budget.

Over seventy amendments were offered and five were passed.  The debate began with a vote to change the rules. Know as Rule 53, the rule change required a higher vote threshold for amendments to the operating budge.  The change required thirty votes to approve an amendment not a simple majority (25).

After nine hours of debate, a final vote on the budget was blocked.  A Senate procedural rule requires additional time before a bill can be voted on.

A final vote is expected some time next week.

Senate Advances Budget to Floor

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Last night the Senate Ways & Means committee took executive action to advance a proposed biennial operating budget to the Senate floor.

The committee passed a substitute bill which mostly made technical changes to the original bill.  The substitute includes a technical change to reporting language for Evergreen. The original language included reference to engineering, a program that the College does not offer. The substitute reflects this change and focuses the reporting language on computer science.  A correction Evergreen highlighted in testimony.

The Senate’s proposed operating budget now moves to the floor for further consideration.