January 31, 2008
Dark Economic Clouds on the Horizon?
And I’m not just talking about the weather (which has been miserable as you know). Tomorrow we hit the one-third mark of this legislative session and while policy committees are in a full blown state of frenzy as they approach their cut-off dates next week, the hallways and corridors are filled with some apprehension and…
January 28, 2008
House Ed Subcommittee Budget — A Step Backwards for UW
Today at noon, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education chair Rep. Kathy Haigh (D-Shelton) released the details of her 2008 supplemental operating budget recommendations. Unfortunately, the proposed budget represents a step backwards for the UW from the Governor’s budget recommendations issued in December. A total of $100,000 in funding for the UW’s community alert system (which had been…
January 27, 2008
More on UW North Sound
Just wanted to pass along some thoughts about the UW North Sound hearing on Friday afternoon in the House Capital Budget Committee. During the first couple weeks of session the debate on the new campus has been starkly different between the two legislative chambers. In the Senate, most of the disagreement seems to center on…
January 26, 2008
Legislation of Interest to the UW
Two weeks have now passed in the 2008 legislative session and I think we feel in State Relations like we are finally getting caught up with what seems to be another record batch of bills introduced so far. By next week, I hope to have a list of “UW High Priority Bills” posted to the…
January 21, 2008
UW Branch Campus Bill Clears Key Committee
Senator Paull Shin’s bill (SB 6391) which establishes a new UW branch campus in Everett at the Pacific Station site was passed out of the Senate Higher Education Committee this afternoon by a vote of 5-1. Committee members Shin, Derek Kilmer, Jean Berkey, Jerome Delvin and Mark Schoesler voted in favor, while Tim Sheldon voted…
Week Two Preview
The way this session began last week, I feel like I am aging in “dog years,” you know, each week really feels like seven weeks, or something like that. Woof. In any event, can’t be much busier than last week and besides, “it wouldn’t be fun if it was easy.” Today, the House Higher Education…
January 17, 2008
With Days Like This…….
Who needs………. well, you can fill in the blank. I am hard pressed to recall a day this darned busy. Lots and lots of UW stuff going on, much of which you will read about in your local papers on Friday morning. As I mentioned in the previous post, today was the big Senate hearing on the UW North Sound…
UW North Sound Update
Today the Senate Higher Ed committee will hold a public hearing on bills related to establishing a new UW branch campus in Snohomish County. Sen. Paull Shin’s bill would establish the campus in Everett at the Pacific Station site. Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen’s legislation would require specified criteria to be used to determine the best…
January 15, 2008
Tough Times Ahead in the Golden State?
While Washington begins it’s 2008 legislative session with a large budget surplus that the Governor and many legislative leaders have sworn to protect, the fiscal outlook in our large neighbor to the south is quite grim. Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed 2008-09 budget was released a week ago and it calls for 10% across-the-board reductions in virtually every…
January 14, 2008
New Website for Council of Presidents
I’m happy to report that the Council of Presidents (the organization which represents the six public baccalaureate institutions) has created a new website that should prove helpful to those of you in the campus community charged with tracking legislation. You can find the link at: http://www.councilofpresidents.org/index.htm Under the “Legislative Information” section, you can find out which bills…
