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Update from State Relations: Floor Action

Members of both the House and Senate have wrapped up initial committee hearings and are now spending time on their respective floors debating and casting their votes on various pieces of legislation. Here are a few priority bills for the university that have passed either the Senate or House so far:

The “critical care” bill (SB 5631), as mentioned in our previous post, passed out of the Senate with strong bi-partisan support on Tuesday afternoon. SB 5631 will now move over to the House Higher Education committee.

Senate voting for the passage of SB 5631
Senate voting for the passage of SB 5631

In January, State Relations testified in support of HB 1107, which removes the term “branch” as an identifying term for extension campuses – something that the university has already eliminated from practice. On February 1, HB 1107 passed with overwhelming bi-paritsan support in the House.

The biggest news of the week came on Tuesday when the Senate chamber unanimously voted to confirm Austin Wright-Pettibone as the student regent for the university. Congratulations to Austin!

Student Regent Austin Wright-Pettibone addressing the Senate Higher Education committee
Student Regent Austin Wright-Pettibone addressing the Senate Higher Education committee

Here are two bills that we would like to keep moving after cutoff on Wednesday, March 8:

HB 1433: Decouples services and activities fees from tuition and is supported by ASUW.

Student reps expressing enthusiasm for HB 1433
Student reps expressing enthusiasm for HB 1433

SB 5525: Concerns veterans’ mental health services across higher education institutions and is strongly supported by our students.

 

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