Last Thursday marked the end of the 2017 State Legislative Session, which included three special sessions and lasted a record 193 days in total. While the session included a number of victories for the UW, the Legislature adjourned last night without passing a compromise 2017-19 capital budget. To read more about the session and impacts to the UW, please visit President Cauce’s blog here.
Until a 2017-2019 capital budget is passed, the University will only have funding for ongoing projects that were included in previous capital budgets, as designated with the passage of PSSB 5965 last month. As detailed in a brief published by our Office of Planning and Budgeting, this bill “reappropriates” unspent funding from the 2015-17 biennium, which will allow currently-funded projects to continue as planned. Without a new capital budget for the upcoming biennium, a number of proposed capital requests may be delayed, including the new Burke Museum.
The path forward remains unclear at this time, but the State Relations team will continue to engage with members and staff in Olympia and update this page as more information becomes available.
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