Yesterday the Washington State Senate released its 2015-17 supplemental operating budget proposal, which followed the release of the House of Representatives budget proposal earlier in the week and the release of Governor Inslee’s budget proposal prior to the beginning of the legislative session.
In the 2015-17 operating budget enacted last session, the Legislature reduced tuition at public higher education institutions throughout the state and provided funding to colleges and universities to make up for the forgone tuition revenue. The Senate supplemental budget proposal further addresses the tuition reduction backfill for higher education institutions, including $802,000 in additional backfill funding for Western. The Senate proposal would also redirect $630,000 for student support services at Western – the university’s top legislative priority – in lieu of funding that was originally allocated for the establishment of a cybersecurity program at WWU’s Poulsbo site.
The Senate budget proposal increases state spending by $49 million from the overall amount of $38 billion in the 2015-17 operating budget and major allocations include $173 million to fund the costs of the 2015 wildfires and $54 million to invest in mental health services.
Additionally, the House and Senate each released their supplemental capital budget proposals yesterday and both reflected no significant change for Western to the underlying 2015-17 capital budget.
With the 2016 legislative session scheduled to conclude on March 10th, legislative leaders will use the budget proposals released this week as a starting point while working over the next two weeks to form supplemental budgets that can be supported by both chambers of the Legislature.