March 15, 2012

A New Senate “Coalition” Budget Proposal

The first new budget proposal of special session was released today by the same bipartisan Senate coalition that quickly passed an engrossed supplemental budget two weeks ago. Last week, the House further revised the Senate engrossed budget before session ended without agreement on a compromise budget. Although complex and at times confusing, this year’s budget process appears to now be moving forward as today’s Senate budget release moves closer to the House engrossed budget.

The new Senate coalition budget proposal would make the following changes to the UW’s 2011-13 biennial budget:

• Reduces state general funds for the College of the Environment and replaces these funds with State Toxics Control revenue ($5 million);
• Requires that the UW devote a portion of its state funding base to convert existing student FTE to College of Engineering FTE ($3.8 million); and,
• Provides new funds for a Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation ($1.5 million).

All told, the redirect of state funding for engineering enrollment funding  and College of the Environment fund swap would affect our FY13 budget base. Please review our Planning & Budgeting brief for more information about the new Senate proposal and how it compares to the current House engrossed budget.