Faculty Legislative Representative (Council of Faculty Reps) Report #8 to CWU Faculty Senate
03 March 2015
Welcome to week eight. The 2015 session is just over half finished, and this report will be short. Friday
was the cutoff for bills coming before the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the House
Appropriations Committee. March 11 – next Wednesday – is the third cutoff date, by which the House
and Senate must vote on bills approved by committees in their own chambers. As noted before, bills
which are necessary to implement the budget can be called to a vote at any time. As of yesterday
(Monday, March 2), and until March 11, both chambers are on their respective floors, debating – and
voting on – bills from their own houses. If not voted out of their house of origin (Senate or House) by the
11th, they are off the table for this session.
Our work now is following bills and dealing as best we can behind the scenes with legislators, staff and
committee members who might be able to shed light on an issue – or affect it. We have a bit more time
to think about processes, and (occasionally) minimal time to jump on a bill or issue or question. I would
remind you that bills, committee agendas, and relevant documents are linked to our CFR homepage at
www.cfr-washington.org. If you run into a snag or dead end, please contact me. We will find the answer
you seek.
Wednesday, 02/25.
Given the need for several of our CFR team to be back in their home Senates, and the cancellation of our
24 Corners meeting, we skipped our weekly CFR lunch.
During that time, I met with Representative Timm Ormsby, a long-time supporter of higher ed and a
leading voice on the House Appropriations Committee. We quickly discussed his role in awarding the
Ormsby Awards in our Faculty Senates across the state. Then In a very short meeting, squeezed between
other obligations, he introduced me to Representative Hunter’s “Framework for Higher Ed Funding”
(Hunter is Chair of the Appropriations Committee). The framework suggests that, if tuition was again
frozen at all state institutions, the state should come up with the dollar value of that frozen tuition in
order to keep the schools (including the Community and Technical College System) whole. Each school
and system has a “cap” for tuition (Central’s is 3.5%, equating to around $5.8 million) and the caps – in
their $ values – add up to about $114 million. I left the meeting with only a partial understanding of the
plan. [Several hours since that meeting have been devoted to talking with Team CWU members, with
CFR members and several representatives on the Appropriations committee in order to fully understand
the ramifications of the Hunter Framework. I am folding time here, but this is what we now know, as of
Tuesday, March 3, after several short meetings with key folks: This “Hunter Framework” is only to keep
schools whole – or as close as possible – if tuition is again frozen. There are several other, and
additional, budget requests relating to higher ed and our various schools yet to be heard. Please
understand that these are proposals on the House side. The Senate, we hear, is looking at something on
the order of $200 million for all of Higher Ed in Washington. NOTHING is in a budget yet, and the
budgets from the House and Senate and Governor will have to be integrated at some point. The only
reason for putting this amount of energy into following up on House or Senate numbers at this point is
so that we in higher ed understand enough to make proper efforts to be appropriate parts of the
conversation(s).] Stand by…
Thursday, 02/26.
This was a day of informal follow-up on the budget info discussed above, a fair amount of digging and
research, and making arrangements to meet with appropriate (we always hope) legislators.
Friday, 02/27.
At 9:00 a.m. several of us sat in the Senate Gallery as Senator Judy Warnick introduced a Kittitas County
originated “Celebrating Washington State Families’ Outdoor Heritage” Resolution. The resolution was
approved unanimously by the Senate. After a brief round of photo opportunities in the Capitol Building
and on the Senate floor, the group celebrated this success after three years of effort and agreed over
breakfast on the next steps. You will, no doubt, see more about this in the Daily Record at some point.
Shortly thereafter, your FLR headed for home base.
Monday, 03/02.
The day started with a meeting with our Representative Tom Dent, a member of the Appropriations
Committee. He understood a bit about the “Hunter Framework,” but agreed to contact his ranking
minority member (The House is controlled by the Democrats, as are the committees, and the ranking
minority member would be the highest ranking Republican on the committee) and pass along anything
new.
I spent some time in discussion with Steve DuPont and Antonio Sanchez, discussing the Hunter
Framework and asking about appropriate action on HB 1439 (our online alternative credit model), HB
1546 (which would mess up the very successful Running Start programs at Central and Eastern), SB 5080
(which would change how Running Start is funded across the state – okay for us) and the Samuelson
STEM Remodel which is struggling a bit in both Capital Committees. We agreed to let the running start
bills play out on the Senate and House floors. I agreed to take a couple actions on the other issues on
Tuesday.
Tuesday, 03/03.
I spent the morning on a letter to all members of the House Rules Committee. In that letter, I requested
(for reasons discussed in several different of my FLR Reports) that the rules committee “Pull” HB 1439 to
the Floor of the House for debate and vote. I also sent a note to the Faculty Senate Chair – Katharine
Whitcomb – asking if the Senate or Leadership would write a short note to the powers that be on the
two capital budget committees noting that faculty need the Samuelson STEM building in order to do the
work necessary to meet the state’s needs for such graduates in the near future.
In the afternoon, Sara Singleton (WWU) and I had a three-minute meeting with Representative Hansen –
Higher Ed Committee Chair and a key person on the Appropriations Committee. We pulled him off the
floor during debate over the minimum wage bill. In that meeting, we learned the rest of what we
needed to know about the Hunter Framework (reported above, under Wednesday – 02/25. After
spending much of the rest of the afternoon discussing various higher ed bills and issues with Antonio
Sanchez at COP headquarters, I retired to this computer in my Olympia home.
[NOTE: Just as I was about to post this report, Steve DuPont informed me that the House Rules
Committee pulled HB 1439 to the floor of the House.]
A reminder that we are about to receive the Faculty Senate’s nominee for the Ormsby Award, as per the
guidelines which Janet has passed around. Please help the Executive Committee find a deserving
nominee. We intend to make the award presentations this year at a Faculty Senate Meeting (and,
ideally, at a BOT meeting as well).
As always, I remind you that more information is available at www.cfr-washington.org. If you do not find
what you are looking for, please contact me. We will find it.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Huckabay
509-306-9025, huckabay@cwu.edu