Back from a quick family vacation and during the drive home yesterday, I realized that I missed updating all of you on an important staff change in the Governor’s policy office. In late February, Debora Merle (who has served as the Governor’s higher education policy advisor since the beginning of her administration), left Olympia to become… Read More

I’m off this week for a little R & R with the family.  We’ll check in later.

Just got a chance to review the Governor’s veto message on the 2008 supplemental capital budget and there are no changes that impact the University.  On the positive side, this means the $3 million for the UW Tacoma campus land acquisition and soils remediation project remains intact and $300,000 to conduct a pre-design study for a future… Read More

Governor Gregoire took action today on the 2008 supplemental budget.  As expected before signing the bill into law, she exercised her veto power to eliminate about $15 million in state general fund spending from the legislatively enacted budget, increasing the size of the state’s total budget reserves from $835 million to $850 million.  Few agencies… Read More

Just got word this morning that the Governor will take action on the 2008 supplemental operating and capital budgets tomorrow, April 1, at 2:00 p.m.  Apparently the Governor has been working her way line-by-line through both budgets and some vetoes of new legislative spending items are expected.  The UW is also watching the capital budget… Read More

Here’s a link to a nice profile of Rep. Helen Sommers (D-Seattle) in Sunday’s Seattle Times written by Andrew Garber.