February 28, 2013
Via the Associated Press: A divided high court ruled 6-3 Thursday that an initiative requiring a two-thirds vote was in conflict with the state Constitution. And that lawmakers and the people of Washington would need to pass a constitutional amendment to change from a simple majority to a supermajority. AP News – WA Supreme Courtstrikes… Read More
January 18, 2013
On Monday, members of the House & Senate took their oaths of office. In the State Senate, as was expected, the Majority Coalition Caucus took control after a brief floor fight. And we’ve got a leadership structure. The state Senate votes 25-23 to adopt proposal of 23R/2D Majority Coalition Caucus. #waleg — Brian M. Rosenthal… Read More
January 10, 2013
With the start of the 105-day legislative session set to kick off next Monday, Jan. 14, the Associated Press held its annual forum featuring state legislators and decision-makers in Olympia today. The big topics? Finding additional funding for basic education, the committee structure and leadership of the State Senate, and addressing the estimated $1 billion… Read More
January 8, 2013
President Young today joined with presidents of the state’s other public four-year universities in asking the Legislature to bolster sagging state investment. In exchange for a $225 million reinvestment in the 2013-15 operating budget, the universities offered to hold resident undergraduate tuition at current rates for the next two years. Responding to the proposal in… Read More
December 28, 2012
Power sharing talks continue in the State Senate, via The Olympian: Lt. Gov. Owen to start peace talks in Wash. Senate Friday morning: power sharing at issue – The Politics Blog – theolympian.com/2012/12/27/236… — Brad Shannon (@BradShannon2) December 27, 2012 The situation in the State Senate also attracted the attention of The New York Times… Read More
December 19, 2012
In her last budget before leaving office, Gov. Chris Gregoire this week addressed the state’s nearly $1 billion budget deficit, and tackled a court mandate to fully fund basic education. Read UW’s Office of Planning & Budgeting brief and blog post on the Governor’s 2013-2015 budget proposal. The Governor released both a “Book 1″ and a “Book 2″ budget…. Read More
December 7, 2011
The UW’s state funding has been cut 50 percent in the past three years. The UW External Affairs staff has prepared a series of documents to help people understand what the cuts mean and why higher education funding needs to be a real priority in the next state budget. Please visit Our Shared Future at… Read More
April 20, 2011
With the legislative houses several hundred million dollars apart on a final biennial budget, and the official end of the session coming this week, a special session is all but certain. Dozens of important fiscal and policy bills also await action. Read an update from Olympia here.
April 6, 2011
“It is discouraging to see half of the state’s appropriation for the UW disappear in the space of two biennia. On the one hand, we are grateful that the House budget writers recognize the links among tuition, state funds, and financial aid. When the state does not have the funds to support higher education, raising… Read More
March 21, 2011
The recent decline in the state’s tax revenue projections leaves higher education especially vulnerable, according to the editorial page of the Tacoma News Tribune. “… destroying college opportunity is like selling the children to pay the groceries.”
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