From the VP: Legislative Session Recap

The 2023 legislative session ended on April 23 after the House and Senate passed the state’s biennial operating, capital, and transportation budgets. In so many ways, this year’s session was filled with big wins for the UW and a couple of misses discussed later. On the capital budget side, the legislature made a powerful statement by investing almost $150M to allow the UW to continue its mission renovating the Magnuson Health Sciences T Wing and Anderson Hall; designing and constructing new facilities like Phase II of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ– Intellectual House; helping UW Tacoma acquire land for future expansion and providing funding to help renovate the historic ASUW Shell House, alongside additional funded priorities. On the operating side, the legislature provided additional funding to grow a local, more diverse STEM workforce; added more state support for staff compensation; and allocated funding to develop a clean energy transformation strategy for the Seattle campus. The budget also included strong investments for UW Medicine including $150M in one-time for UW Medical Center and Harborview and $12.4M in one-time funding for the Behavioral Health Teaching Facility as well as funding for the programs like the UW Center for Indigenous Health, Family Medicine Residency Network and firearm injury research.

Yet, my excitement around these significant investments is tempered by two critical pieces that did not make the cut this year. Our funding request for the UW School of Dentistry Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program expansion would have doubled the annual cohort of RIDE students from eight to 16 per year and ensured that they spend two academic years based in Spokane. We know there is a critical need for more dentists, particularly in rural areas, and expanding this program in Eastern Washington would have been a fantastic step toward bridging that gap.

Additionally, while we did see an increase in the state portion of the compensation fund split, up to 60% from 58% in the previous biennium, we are behind every other public university in the state when it comes to state support for UW staff salaries. This is particularly distressing when the UW continues to receive record demand from Washington students, and insufficient state funding levels mean we cannot offer admission to as many students who qualify for admission. Without stronger state investment from the legislature, the UW must rely more on students’ tuition for compensation leaving less for critical investments in other areas.

Despite this, 2023 was a good session for the University and I am grateful for the hard work of my Office of State Relations staff, as well as the UW leaders and students who took time to visit Olympia and urge the legislature to fund our requests. I know my staff is already thinking about how they will approach the critical pieces that ended up on the budget office’s cutting room floor during next year’s session.

For a more detailed breakdown of the budget highlights, I recommend checking out the Office of State Relations’ most recent blog post.

From the VP: Washington state legislative session underway

We are more than a month into this year’s legislative session and already we’re seeing the benefits of returning to an in-person format after two years of remote lawmaking. In just the first month, President Cauce, UW Medicine CEO Tim Dellit and several UW Deans, faculty, students and administrators have already visited Olympia to meet with lawmakers. While Zoom is here to stay and certainly increases access for those who live far away from Olympia, there is no replacement for quick conversations with a staffer while in line for coffee or catching a member in the hallway between meetings. Members are pleased to be back together again, and I know our State Relations staff are as well.

Beyond the move back to in-person, this session is also noteworthy because 29 new legislators joined the House and Senate this year and most sophomore legislators working an in-person session for the first time. This means we have a unique opportunity to meet and share the impact of higher education broadly and the UW specifically with many new members.

During this 105-day “long” session, legislators will decide the 2023-25 biennial operating, capital, and transportation budgets. The UW has put forward a robust agenda with asks ranging from staff compensation to dental health to building renovation to growing local, more diverse STEM workforce pipeline. I’ve highlighted some key requests below. For a full list of our budget requests, our 2023 legislative agenda is available here.

Competitive compensation for nonrepresented faculty and staff: $26.2M in FY24; $46.6M in FY25+
With rising inflation and the high cost of living in the Puget Sound region, funds are requested to increase salaries for nonrepresented employees by 4% in FY24 and 3% in FY25 with an improved fund split of at least two-thirds of state funding. Investing in compensation is paramount to our efforts to recruit and retain quality faculty and staff.

Ensuring UW Medicine can continue to care for our state’s most vulnerable residents: $300M
UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center serve a unique role as the state’s safety-net and health-care workforce training hospitals. Given the serious financial crisis facing these hospitals, we are requesting funding for safety-net and health-care workforce training activities; to alleviate significant labor costs and sustain clinical operations; and to ensure our hospitals’ financial viability while other payment programs await federal approval.

Growing a local, more diverse STEM workforce pipeline: $5.2M in FY24; $9.1M in FY25+
Student and employer demand for UW STEM degrees continues to exceed our existing capacity. With additional funding, the UW would add 760 enrollments and 300 degrees per year by FY27, as well as academic support services, to qualified Washington students in informatics, computing and engineering.

UW School of Dentistry RIDE program expansion: $2M in FY24; $2.34M in FY25+
The Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program of the UW School of Dentistry trains dentists to meet the needs of rural and underserved populations in the state. In partnership with Eastern Washington University, we request funds to double the annual cohort of RIDE students from eight to 16 per year and ensure that they spend two academic years based in Spokane.

Phase 2 of the Magnuson Health Sciences Center renovation and replacement: $58M
Built in the 1970s, Magnuson Health Sciences Center needs a major overhaul. The new facilities will promote innovative, multidisciplinary learning to over 8,000 students in the UW’s six health sciences schools (dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and social work), accommodate future program growth, and support continuing education for current health-care professionals.

Design and renovate Anderson Hall in Seattle: $28.9M
Constructed in 1925, Anderson Hall has an antiquated learning environment that lacks adequate classroom and collaborative learning spaces. Renewed facilities will accommodate increased enrollment, address long-standing accessibility and safety issues, and allow for innovative learning and research in support of Washington’s environmental, economic and societal prosperity.

Design and construct phase 2 of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House: $9M
wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House is a learning and gathering place for the UW’s American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) students, faculty and staff and a center for sharing the knowledge of Northwest Indigenous peoples. The building aims to further support access and retention for AIAN students.

Behavioral health renovation of UW Medical Center–Northwest: $13M
This project renovates an existing psychiatric unit at UW Medical Center–Northwest, which will house voluntary adult psychiatric patients. These beds will be part of the behavioral health training program for multidisciplinary care teams centered at the Behavioral Health Teaching Facility.

From the VP: 2022 legislative session preview

In the immortal words of the 70’s rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.” Yes, the 2022 Washington state legislative session begins this week and like last year, it will again be conducted primarily remotely. A virtual session — like all pandemic pivots — presents its own set of challenges. In a “normal” session, much of our work happens when we are able to catch a member or staffer in the hallway between meetings or in line for a cup of coffee. Serendipitous encounters like these simply don’t happen between Zoom meetings. However, I know our State Relations team will continue to find creative ways to ensure the University’s priorities are heard as they did so ably last session.

While Washington’s economy continues its unprecedented rebound from the dire projections made in the early days of the pandemic, the unrelenting COVID rollercoaster continues to present numerous challenges. Because this is a short “supplemental budget” session, the University limited its requests to the most essential items including:

$18.45M for salary adjustments for faculty and staff who are not scheduled to receive wage increases in the current biennial budget. Recruiting and retaining effective educators and staff is critical to the continued success of students and the University. This is our number one priority!
$2M to expand computer science and engineering degrees by an additional 100 per year to meet sustained, high demand from students and employers.
$505K to create two behavioral health pharmacy residencies housed at the new Behavioral Health Teaching Facility. These residencies would help address the state’s critical behavioral health patient and workforce needs and the request is in partnership with Washington State University, which is requesting additional funds for two pharmacy residencies in Eastern Washington.
$800K for a three-year research program led by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in Spokane focused on community health metrics to help proactively address health disparities in rural and tribal communities in Eastern Washington.
$621K maintenance and operation (M&O) funds for Milgard Hall at UW Tacoma. Construction is ahead of schedule and occupancy is now expected in October 2022 instead of mid-2023.

For more details regarding the UW’s capital and operating budget requests, see the 2022 Legislative Agenda. In an encouraging initial step forward in the process, last month we learned that Governor Inslee included all of our funding requests and allocated additional funds to other important initiatives in his supplemental budget proposal. Support from the Governor coupled with strong revenue projections causes me to be cautiously optimistic about the Senate and House budgets as well. For regular updates throughout the 2022 session, be sure to check out the Office of State Relation’s blog.

From the VP: Exciting opportunities in Spokane

When you think about where the University of Washington is making an impact, Spokane might not be the first place that comes to mind. You might instead picture our extensive west side purple and gold presence, particularly on our Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses. However, the UW actually has a long history in the Lilac City. From the early 1970s when the UW School of Medicine secured a grant to start the WWAMI program and began clinical rotations in Spokane, to today when a cohort of 60 students complete their Foundations Phase in Spokane each year, the UW community has been living, learning and serving the Inland Northwest for over 50 years.

You might be asking — particularly if you live on the west side of the state — what makes Spokane so attractive? Well, affordability is one answer. Despite being the 2^nd largest city in Washington state, the cost of living in Spokane is estimated to be 37% lower than in Seattle and although the Spokane housing market has risen steeply over the last 18 months, the median home price is still $400,000 less than the Emerald City. Throw in shorter commute times and access to fantastic restaurants, arts and entertainment and the great outdoors, it’s easy to see the appeal. Beyond livability metrics, Spokane leaders are cultivating a growing life sciences research ecosystem that is on track to reach $2.5 billion in the next ten years. In the last six years alone, Spokane has experienced a 50% increase in NIH research dollars.

Mirroring the growth Spokane is experiencing, the UW is also growing its footprint in the city. Earlier this summer, I had a chance to tour the new UW-GU Health Partnership building. When finished, over 600 Gonzaga and UW students will utilize the four-story, 90,000 square-foot building. These students will be the next generation of doctors, nurses and health care workers and technicians serving communities in eastern Washington and across our state. Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, construction continues to be on schedule and is expected to finish ahead of time in May 2022.

The new space will not only serve our medical students in Spokane but will also open up opportunities for other UW departments to locate important regional research and programming on the eastern side of the state. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), for example, is developing a program focused on community health metrics, disparities and drivers that would be based in Spokane. Although our 2022 Legislative agenda is still being fleshed out, securing funding from the state to support IHME Spokane will be among the requests. And I’m confident that more UW programs will follow in the coming years.

The University of Washington is committed to our entire state and dedicated to expanding access to education, spurring innovation and meeting the needs of patients and communities across eastern Washington and beyond. As President Cauce always says, it is our aim to not simply be the University OF Washington, but also to be the University FOR Washington.

From the VP: Exciting news for cancer care and research

Earlier this week UW Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch), Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and Seattle Children’s announced a new approach to providing world-class cancer care and cancer research in the Pacific Northwest.

Under this new plan, Fred Hutch and SCCA would merge, forming the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC), an independent, private, not-for-profit organization. The FHCC would be a comprehensive cancer center that is clinically integrated with UW Medicine and focused on treating adult cancer patients. FHCC would be UW Medicine’s cancer program and have programmatic oversight of the adult oncology clinical programs at UW Medical Center. The new Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will unite the strengths of Fred Hutch’s research and science with SCCA’s outstanding clinical care and UW Medicine’s nationally recognized research and adult cancer care programs. In parallel to this change, Seattle Children’s would continue operating independently and be the central site for pediatric cancer care among the organizations. This new approach would create a seamless and consistent experience for patients and providers.

Since forming the SCCA in 1998, Fred Hutch, Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine have been leaders in helping prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, and ultimately discover cures. However, the world of cancer care and research has changed significantly since the SCCA was created 20 years ago. The SCCA and its members have regularly reviewed and discussed approaches to strengthening collaboration since its inception. It has become increasingly clear that this is a natural next step in the evolution of this partnership. Creating Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and moving forward under this new structure, would further strengthen our contributions to Washington state in health care delivery, economic growth and a robust life sciences industry.

In the coming weeks and months, leaders from the four organizations will be discussing the restructure with governing boards, faculty, staff, labor partners, government officials and other stakeholders with the goal of securing all necessary board and governmental approvals by early 2022. My office will support these effort and the formation of the FHCC will be a key component of our 2022 legislative agenda. The partnership between UW Medicine, Fred Hutch and Seattle Children’s has been a boon for our region for the past two decades and I am excited to see how this new structure will accelerate the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer in the future.