Tuesday marked the last committee cutoff of the 2023 legislative session when bills with a fiscal impact needed to be voted out of those committees in order to continue in the legislative process. For the community and technical college system, bills on Running Start, nursing education, data sharing and College in the High School moved out of fiscal committees. >>
In their first full week of hearings after last week's floor cutoff deadline, committees were back at work hearing bills on creating data sharing agreements, expanding Running Start to the summer, and making permanent the Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness program. >>
Thursday marked session's halfway point, and representatives and senators spent the week on the floor debating and voting on bills ahead of Wednesday's floor cutoff deadline. On the docket this week were bills expanding the Washington College Grant and the College Bound Scholarship, as well as making permanent the Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness program. >>
House and Senate fiscal committee hearings were long this week but testimony was short as committee members worked to hear and vote on bills ahead of today's fiscal committee cutoff deadline. Following the Feb. 17 policy committee cutoff, the budget-related committees had just this week to complete their work. That meant marathon meetings with time-limited public testimony for committees to work their way through dozens of bills. >>
House and Senate committees continued their work this week, hearing bills on creating a data-sharing agreement with The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, adding a stipend for students using the Washington College Grant to purchase textbooks and other class materials, expanding the College Bound Scholarship, creating a capital budget matching grant program for the state's independent colleges and universities, and making permanent the Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness program. >>
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. >>
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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
