The Legislature is quickly approaching an
April 15 cutoff date for House bills to pass out of the Senate, and for Senate
bills to pass out of the House.
A system-request bill (HB
1706) to waive building and student activity fees for active duty military
personnel has passed the House and is now in the Senate Rules committee
awaiting a floor vote. Another system-request bill to streamline statutes (HB
1961) has passed both chambers and awaits the governor’s signature.
Meanwhile, budget writers continue to work on
2015-2017 operating and capital budget proposals.
Senate Ways and Means
approves capital plan
April 9 — The Senate Ways and Means Committee
approved its version of the capital budget, which is now in the Rules Committee
to be scheduled for a floor vote (EHB 1115).
·
The proposal provides $269.5
million for community and technical college capital projects, which is 73
percent of the system’s overall request of $367 million.
·
Similar to the
governor’s proposal, it follows the system priority list but funds only the
first 16 of 24 projects on the list.
·
Similar to capital
proposals by the governor and the House, the plan cuts funding for construction
projects on the list by 5 to 13 percent.
Community
and technical college system representatives shared concerns at an April 8 hearing.
Dr. Jean Hernandez, Edmonds Community
College president, urged full funding of the system’s capital priorities list,
including design funds for a new Science, Engineering and Technology Building
at that college.
“This
is a building that will allow us to both address the capacity and the need for
the science areas, including allied health, engineering, natural sciences,
materials science and construction programs at the college,” she said. “In
addition, it will allow us to train teachers in the science and math fields
through our partnership with Central Washington University.”
Stuart Trippel, Shoreline Community
College executive director for business and student support services, discussed
the need for design funding for a new Allied Health, Science and Manufacturing
project. The project will replace five, one-story buildings that are about 50
years old with one, four-story building for STEM programs that serve
educational needs between Seattle and Tacoma. With full funding, the system can
“move forward with first-rate projects advanced by the State Board for the
2015-2017 biennium,” he said.
Bruce Riveland, Olympic College
vice president for administrative services, shared concerns about additional
reductions in construction funding for a College Instruction Center. The
project replaces an aging art, music and theater building with a single new
multipurpose facility for health occupations and other programs.
“By
going through OFM’s budget evaluation study last year, we validated the program
needs and the cost estimate and have already cut millions of dollars from the
original project budget. Further trimming the funding…doesn’t account for the
infrastructure necessary for this project.”
Steve Ward, Centralia College vice president for
finance and administration, expressed appreciation for construction funds for a
new Student Services building, but explained that the proposed funding is
significantly less than the estimated costs of construction. “We’ve kept the
costs consistent with our design phase request and the project is now ready to
bid. Our students and community are already contributing $5 million to this
project and the proposed substitute is a $1.5 million cut to the construction
budget.”
Senate Ways &
Means hears bill on dual credit opportunities
April 6 — Marty
Brown, SBCTC executive director, testified before the Senate Ways and Means Committee on dual credit opportunities
provided by colleges and universities for high school students (E2HB 1546). The bill now
prioritizes funding for students of low-income and those attending small and
rural high schools. It also clarifies the definitions of “Running Start” and
“College in the High School” dual-credit programs.
“We strongly support dual credit programs as a key to higher education
access,” Brown said. “We support the subsidies that are provided here, we
support eliminating the use of Running Start funds for courses offered in the
high school, and we support the small and rural school provisions.”
The
bill was passed out of the Ways and Means Committee April 7 and is now in the
Rules Committee awaiting further action.
Coming
up later this week
The House and Senate will continue to vote on
each other’s bills next week to meet the April 15 cutoff date for floor
passage. Budget discussions will heat up as the Legislature counts down to the
April 26 end of regular session.