HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 2879

BYRepresentatives Jesernig, Jacobsen, Hankins, Rector, Wood, R. Meyers, Basich, Grant, Prince, Brooks, Dorn, Nelson, Rust, Hargrove, Heavey, Fraser, Bennett, Nealey, Rayburn, Gallagher, H. Myers, Baugher, Miller, Todd, Belcher, G. Fisher, Day, Cooper, Van Luven, Ebersole, Raiter, Wang, Ferguson, D. Sommers, P. King, Dellwo, Wolfe and Wineberry

Establishing the Washington state center for environmental and molecular sciences at Washington State University/Tri-Cities.

House Committe on Higher Education

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (11)

      Signed by Representatives Jacobsen, Chair; Spanel, Vice Chair; Van Luven, Ranking Republican Member; Basich, Bennett, Doty, Fraser, Heavey, Jesernig, Miller and Rector.

House Staff:Susan Hosch (786-7120)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION JANUARY 29, 1990

BACKGROUND:

For the last few years, several of Washington's universities worked collaboratively to meet the upper-division and graduate education needs of the citizens in the Tri-Cities area.  In 1989, the Legislature assigned to Washington State University the sole responsibility for ensuring that those needs were met.  The University was directed to operate a branch campus in the Tri- Cities area.  This branch campus replaced the Tri-Cities University Center, a center that served many of the educational needs of the federal government's Hanford operation, the Hanford contractors, and the citizens of the area, for many years.

Recently, the Department of Energy has designated Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratory in the Tri-Cities, as the Center for Environmental Excellence and as its Molecular Science Center.  The department has also designated the Hanford site to be the focus of waste management and environmental restoration efforts.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL:  The Washington State Center for Environmental and Molecular Sciences is established at Washington State University/Tri-Cities. The center will be administered by Washington State University.  The center will be designed to be the educational and research complement of the federal Environmental and Molecular Science Centers.  Funding for the center will be provided through a combination of federal, state, and private funds, including an endowment fund.

The purposes of the center are described.  The purposes include developing specific instructional programs, coordinating the relationship of the University with federal research efforts in the Tri-Cities area, and initiating collaborative research efforts with Hanford contractors and staff.  The center will develop expertise necessary to assist in technology transfer, and will foster strong cooperative relationships with governmental agencies and businesses interested in hazardous waste and molecular science research and development.  The center will also ensure that expertise from all Washington universities and colleges is available to aid federal research efforts, and ensure that the state and its institutions of higher education are able to benefit from those efforts.  Other purposes are also described.

The Washington State Center for Environmental and Molecular Sciences Trust Fund is created.  The fund will be administered by the state treasurer.  The treasurer will release state matching moneys appropriated by the Legislature to Washington State University when the university can match the funds with an equal amount of private cash donations. Private cash donations are defined as moneys from nonstate sources, including federal funds and assessments by commodity commissions.  No appropriation is necessary for expenditures from the trust fund.

Once the private donations and state matching grants are received by the university, they will be deposited in the university's local endowment fund.  The university will invest moneys in the endowment fund, and may augment them with additional private donations.  The principal of the endowment fund must not be expended.  The earnings on the endowment fund must be used to support the center.

By September 1, 1990, Washington State University will provide the Higher Education Coordinating Board with a proposal on the long-term development of the Washington State Center for Environmental and Molecular Sciences.  The elements of the proposal are described.  The Higher Education Coordinating Board will review the proposal.  The board will make a recommendation on the long-term development of the center to the governor and the Legislature by January 1, 1991.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  Washington State University will make a proposal to the Higher Education Coordinating board on the long-term development of the center.  The proposal will include estimated operating and facilities costs. The proposal will replace the two reports to the Legislature and the governor required in the original bill. The board will then report to the governor and the Legislature by January 1, 1991, with its recommendations on the long-term development of the center.

Appropriations of $250,000 for state matching grants, and $75,000 for the report are eliminated.  Minor technical changes are made.

Fiscal Note:      Requested January 25, 1990.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Rep. Jim Jesernig, prime sponsor; Robert Smith and James Cochran, Washington State University.

House Committee - Testified Against:      No one.

House Committee - Testimony For:    The federal government will need to spend tens of billions of dollars in the coming years to clean up hazardous defense wastes.  Collaborative efforts in the areas of research and technology transfer should help reduce these costs.  The clean up efforts will also require highly trained scientists and technicians.  The state and its institutions of higher education have a unique opportunity to work in partnership with the government and its contractors to tackle these challenges.  However, a formal mechanism is needed to coordinate the state's role in research, technology transfer, and education and training.  The proposed center will be one mechanism the state can use for this purpose.  In addition, it will help Washington State University develop an area of specialized excellence in the emerging fields of environmental and molecular sciences.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None.