The Legislature reaches its first cutoff deadline today. Bills, unless needed to implement a budget, must be voted out of House and Senate policy committees in order to continue in the 2023 legislative process. >>
The House and Senate spent the bulk of the week debating and voting on bills ahead of Sunday's chamber cutoff deadline. Highlighting the week: The community and technical college system's requested bill that would prohibit school districts from withholding students' official grades and transcripts due to an unpaid fee or fine passed the Senate; The bill allowing community and technical colleges to offer bachelor's degrees in computer science passed the House; The bill expanding the Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness pilot passed the Senate. >>
House and Senate fiscal committees will wrap up their work today after a week of hours-long meetings to hear public testimony and vote on bills. Committee members this week heard community and technical college-focused bills on diversity, equity and inclusion, computer science bachelor's degrees, equity and access, supporting students experiencing homelessness, and the Customized Training Program. >>
Tuesday marked the House of Origin cutoff, the deadline when bills that started in the House or Senate needed to be voted on by members of the entire chamber. Bills that did not receive a vote or failed to pass, unless a necessary part of the budget, will not move on in the legislative process for the 2021 session. >>
Session reached its halfway point this week as the House and Senate continued their work on the floor debating and voting on bills. The House on Wednesday voted 97-0 to pass 2SHB 1033, the bill that would extend the business and occupation tax credit for the Customized Training Program. >>
Committees continued their work this week taking public testimony on bills, listening to work sessions and voting bills out of committee. The House Education Committee on Thursday voted HB 1176, the bill that would prohibit school districts from withholding a student's official grades and transcripts because of an unpaid fee or fine, out of the committee. >>
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Legislative News is published weekly during the legislative session by the staff of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to highlight issues impacting the two-year college system.
SBCTC is led by a Governor-appointed board and provides leadership, advocacy, and coordination for Washington’s system of 34 public community and technical colleges. Each year, about 337,000 students train for the workforce, prepare to transfer to a university, gain basic math and English skills, or pursue continuing education. Visit our website at SBCTC.edu or email us a SBCTCCommunications@sbctc.edu
