The Legislature on Monday picked up where it left off in 2021 — remotely. While already planning to hold hearings by Zoom, the House and Senate decided recently to limit the number of people allowed on chambers' floor, close the public galleries, and move floor debates and votes to a hybrid format. >>
The House and Senate released their operating budget proposals Monday, holding hearings that afternoon. The House also released its version of the capital budget, holding a hearing on Tuesday. Policy committees were also back at work this week following last Wednesday's house of origin cutoff date. They worked fast, hearing and voting on bills to meet today's policy committee cutoff. >>
The Legislature reached a major milestone Wednesday when bills had to be voted out of their chamber of origin to continue in the legislative process. Bills on allowing students to use the Dual Enrollment Scholarship program to buy apprenticeship materials, prohibiting colleges from withholding transcripts as a means of debt collection and hiring practices related to sexual misconducted passed their chambers, while bills on corrections education, college employee housing and uniform reporting of college fiscal details all died. >>
Democrats in the Legislature announced Thursday they have a tentative deal on an operating budget for the biennium. House and Senate budget writers expect to release the plan on Saturday, one day before Sine Die, the scheduled end of the legislative session. >>
The Washington state Legislature kicked off its 2019 session Monday with House and Senate budget committees holding hearings on Governor Jay Inslee's proposed operating and capital budgets. Representatives from community and technical colleges were on the hill testifying on the proposals and advocating on behalf of the nearly 370,000 students the colleges serve. >>
The Legislature adjourned Sine Die Thursday, the 60th day of a 60-day session. They passed the operating budget — 54-44 in the House and 25-24 in the Senate — which they released Wednesday evening. The Legislature also finalized a capital budget — 96-2 in the House and 49-0 in the Senate. >>
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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
