Policy committee cut-off is today so I thought I’d take a moment to provide an update on a number of bills we are keeping a particularly close eye on this session.
HB 2825/SB 6637 — Allowing certain permit holders to obtain alcohol in nonbeverage form directly from suppliers
This is the UW’s bill that would permit us to buy industrial alcohol directly from suppliers instead of going through the state liquor board. The House version passed the full chamber yesterday by a vote of 95-0 and will be sent to the Senate. The Senate version is in their Rules committee awaiting a pull to the floor.
SB 6848 — Financing for Husky Stadium
This bill had a public hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee last Tuesday February 5. We are awaiting executive session in the committee.
SB 6328/HB 2648 — Enhancing campus safety
The Senate version of the Governor’s campus safety bill is in Senate Rules awaiting a pull to the floor. The House version is in House Appropriations Committee. We are supporting both measures since the substitute versions have corrected most of our concerns.
HB 2646/SB 6639 — Requiring bereavement leave for employees of higher education institutions
The UW along with all other four-year schools had opposed this legislation because it is something which should be discussed as part of collective bargaining and because it creates an unfunded mandate. The bills were heard in both the House and Senate policy committees but did not pass.
HB 2548/SB 6391 — Establishing a UW branch campus in Everett
The House version of the UW North Sound bill was heard this morning in the House Appropriations committee. The Senate version is expected to be heard next Tuesday in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
HB 2641 — Creating a pilot program to test performance agreements at institutions of higher education
This bill has been sponsored for several years by Rep. Fred Jarrett (D-Mercer Island) and Rep. Skip Priest (R-Federal Way) and the UW has been supportive of the idea of establishing such contracts for many years as well. This bill would establish a performance agreement pilot program with the UW and Western Washington University and creates a process for developing and negotiating the contracts during the upcoming 2008 interim. The UW is supporting the bill and other four year schools are seeking to be added to the pilot program.
HB 3329/SB 6903 — Prioritization of public four year institution capital project requests
This is a relatively new bill which was just introduced last week. It would abolish the existing Council of Presidents joint capital budget prioritization process established in 2003 with a new prioritization process managed by the Office of Financial Management. The measure also calls for a capital facility financing study that would assess capital financing systems in other states and examine potential new revenue sources for higher education capital projects. The UW has been working with the Council of Presidents to analyze the legislation as introduced and is requesting two major changes. The first would be to eliminate a requirement that the research universities submit separate capital project requests for branch campuses and all other campus projects and the second is to add four year institutional participating in the upcoming financing study. A substitute to the Senate version of the measure was released today with addresses these two concerns and will be heard next Monday. The original House version was heard earlier this week and executive session is scheduled for next Tuesday.