[Factc] Legislative update with Arlen Harris SBCTC

[Taylor, Terry]

Hi all,

Gerry, Arlen, and I had a phone conference today on the latest legislative update.  Gerry sent an earlier note to the list on upcoming Town Hall meetings with legislators.  If you can, be sure to attend those in your area.  Feel free to share with interested faculty.  The following are my rough notes and any errors are mine.

If you have an opportunity to attend these meetings it would be good to point out the need for full funding of faculty compensation which is currently not fully funded by the legislature.  My college and others are currently facing financial difficulties and fully funding faculty compensation would free up some college dollars that are currently required to partially pay faculty salary increases like COLAs.

Presidents are planning visits on a rotating schedule be sure to ask your president if you can accompany them as the FACTC representative of your college.  March 20 it is Bellevue, Columbia Basin, and South Seattle College.

House of Origin cut toff was this week which means bills had to pass out their respective houses for further consideration except for those that are necessary to implement the budget.

Monday, March 25 we expect to see the House Operating Budget which will allow us to see how the SBCTC system requests are being considered by the legislature.

Here is the bill watch list from SBCTC (links in this document take you to the bill information page with text, hearing information, and bill status):
https://www.sbctc.edu/blogs/legislative-news/2019/2019-03-08.aspx
College system request bills moving ahead of floor cutoff deadline | SBCTC<https://www.sbctc.edu/blogs/legislative-news/2019/2019-03-08.aspx>
The House and Senate spent the past week on the floor voting bills out of their chambers ahead of Wednesday's house of origin cutoff deadline.
www.sbctc.edu

In our phone conversation today we discussed:

ESHB 1355 which concerns staffing ratios for counselors at community colleges.  This is going to turned into a study (involving faculty and other constituencies) that will examine the issues and recommend best practices to the legislature by November 2020.

There are also system concerns for additional mental health counseling needs of our students. (Sorry but my notes aren't clear if this is part of the bill above or another bill.)

2SSB 5800 which will create a pilot program for homeless students providing basic services like showers and food assistance.

HB 1714 will allow colleges to issue a high school diploma when the student receives their AA degree.

HB 1715 removes the ability of high schools to withhold student transcripts for unpaid fines etc.  (the high school librarian dis-empowerment act - my joke)

Not on the list above is HB 1734 https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1734&Initiative=false&Year=2019   which will require college in the high school programs to meet accreditation standards.

For more information and the latest developments check out the legislative news at SBCTC:  https://www.sbctc.edu/blogs/legislative-news/default.aspx
Legislative News | SBCTC<https://www.sbctc.edu/blogs/legislative-news/default.aspx>
House and Senate fiscal committees held marathon hearings this week, hearing and voting on bills before the fiscal committee cutoff today. Today's cutoff means that bills with financial impact need to be voted out of those committees in order to continue in the legislative process.
www.sbctc.edu

Thanks for reading this far,

Terry

*******************************************************************************
Terry L. Taylor
Assistant Dean, The Honors College
Professor of History, Political Science, and International Studies
Shoreline Community College
16101 Greenwood Avenue North
Shoreline, Washington 98133 USA
206-546-4589
ttaylor at shoreline.edu<https://mail.shoreline.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b9971c2c76af4df596bb948fefdac38c&URL=mailto%3attaylor%40shoreline.edu>
http://www.shoreline.edu/ttaylor/<https://mail.shoreline.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b9971c2c76af4df596bb948fefdac38c&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.shoreline.edu%2fttaylor%2f>

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