READ FIRST TIME 02/08/06.   

     AN ACT Relating to expanding access to baccalaureate degree programs at Washington State University Tri-Cities; and amending RCW 28B.45.030.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 28B.45.030 and 2005 c 258 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Washington State University is responsible for providing baccalaureate and graduate level higher education programs to the citizens of the Tri-Cities area, under rules or guidelines adopted by the higher education coordinating board and in accordance with proportionality agreements emphasizing access for transfer students developed with the state board for community and technical colleges. Washington State University shall meet that responsibility through the operation of a branch campus in the Tri-Cities area. The branch campus shall replace and supersede the Tri-Cities university center. All land, facilities, equipment, and personnel of the Tri-Cities university center shall be transferred from the University of Washington to Washington State University.
     (2) In 2005, the legislature authorized the expansion on a limited basis of Washington State University's branch campus in the Tri-Cities area. The legislature authorized the Tri-Cities branch campus to continue providing innovative coadmission and coenrollment options with Columbia Basin College, and to expand its upper-division capacity for transfer students and graduate capacity and programs. The branch campus was given authority beginning in fall 2006 to offer lower-division courses linked to specific majors in fields not addressed at the local community colleges. The campus was also authorized to directly admit freshmen and sophomores for a bachelor's degree program in biotechnology subject to approval by the higher education coordinating board. The legislature finds that the Tri-Cities community is very engaged in and committed to exploring the further expansion of Washington State University Tri-Cities branch campus into a four-year institution and considers this issue to be a top priority for the larger Tri-Cities region.
     (3) Washington State University Tri-Cities shall continue providing innovative coadmission and coenrollment options with Columbia Basin College, and expand its upper division capacity for transfer students and graduate capacity and programs. The campus shall also seek additional opportunities to collaborate with the Pacific Northwest national laboratory. Beginning in the fall of 2006, the campus may offer lower division courses linked to specific majors in fields not addressed at local community colleges. The campus may admit lower division students through coadmission or coenrollment agreements with a community college, or through direct transfer for students who have accumulated approximately one year of transferable college credits. In addition to offering lower division courses linked to specific majors as addressed above, the campus may also directly admit freshmen and sophomores for a bachelor's degree program in biotechnology subject to approval by the higher education coordinating board. ((The campus may not directly admit freshmen and sophomores for degree programs other than biotechnology, however this topic shall be the subject of further study and recommendations by the higher education coordinating board.))
     (4) The Washington State University Tri-Cities branch campus shall develop a plan for expanding into a four-year institution and shall identify new degree programs and course offerings focused on areas of specific need in higher education that exist in southeastern Washington. The branch campus's plan should examine the resources and talent available in the Tri-Cities area, including but not limited to resources and talent available at the Pacific Northwest national laboratory, and how these resources and talent may best be used by the Tri-Cities branch campus to expand into a four-year institution. The branch campus shall submit its plan to the legislature and the higher education coordinating board by November 30, 2006.
     (5) Beginning in the fall of 2007, the Washington State University Tri-Cities branch campus may begin, subject to approval by the higher education coordinating board, admitting lower-division students directly into programs beyond the biotechnology field that are identified in its plan as being in high need in southeastern Washington. Such fields may include but need not be limited to science, engineering and technology, biomedical sciences, alternative energy, and computational and information sciences. By gradually and deliberately admitting freshmen and sophomores in accordance with its plan, increasing transfer enrollment, and coadmitting transfer students, the campus shall develop into a four-year institution serving the southeastern Washington region.