BILL REQ. #:  H-3486.1 

Read first time 01/23/14.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to creating a higher education transparency web site; adding a new section to chapter 28B.77 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature recognizes that the burden of higher education costs at public institutions of higher education has shifted significantly from the state to students since 2008, due to the decline in the proportion of costs supported by state funding compared to tuition.
     (2) The legislature further recognizes that students and the public would benefit from access to information on higher education revenues and expenditures and that this information would provide greater transparency in the higher education system.
     (3) The legislature intends to establish a means for providing easily accessible information on revenues and expenditures of the state's public institutions of higher education to students and the public through a web site maintained by a state agency and with links to this web site prominently displayed on the web site of each public institution of higher education.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28B.77 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) By January 1, 2015, the council shall create a higher education transparency web site as a means for providing easily accessible information on revenues and expenditures for each institution of higher education.
     (2) In developing and maintaining the higher education transparency web site the council shall:
     (a) Ensure the web site is easily accessed by students and the public;
     (b) Ensure data is collected and displayed in accordance with laws relating to confidentiality and public records in chapter 42.56 RCW;
     (c) Wherever possible, use data from existing data sources including the higher education revenue and expenditure data of the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee, data submitted to the office of financial management, and data collected by the state board for community and technical colleges and the institutions of higher education;
     (d) Include historical data to allow year-to-year comparisons;
     (e) Analyze and display the data in order to communicate the relative size of revenues and expenditures for each institution of higher education in an easily accessible and understandable format;
     (f) Provide basic enrollment and program information for each institution of higher education for context;
     (g) Provide a link to any audit reports available to the public or issued by the office of the state auditor for each institution of higher education; and
     (h) Update the web site each year.
     (3)(a) Unless otherwise directed by the council by rule, the major revenue categories must include the following:
     (i) Athletics;
     (ii) Investment income;
     (iii) State funding for operations and capital expenditures;
     (iv) Tuition;
     (v) Grants, contracts;
     (vi) Gifts; and
     (vii) For the University of Washington, patient services.
     (b) Unless otherwise directed by the council by rule, the major expenditure categories shall include the following:
     (i) Instruction;
     (ii) Administration;
     (iii) Research;
     (iv) Health systems;
     (v) Student services; and
     (vi) Athletics.
     (4) Each institution of higher education and the state board for community and technical colleges, to the extent possible and subject to laws relating to confidentiality, using existing data sources and system applications, shall:
     (a) Provide the council with revenue and expenditure information including information provided to the office of financial management for budget and accounting purposes, and the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee for the purposes of RCW 44.48.150;
     (b) Provide the information in the format and manner required by the council; and
     (c) Prominently display on their institutional web sites a link to council's higher education transparency web site for their institution, using the same title.