S-3050.1          _______________________________________________

                                 SENATE BILL 6021

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1992 Regular Session

By Senators Sellar, Snyder, Anderson, Sutherland, Conner, Thorsness, von Reichbauer, Barr, Jesernig, L. Smith, McMullen and Erwin

Read first time 01/13/92.  Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.Providing for students in timber impact areas.

     AN ACT Relating to students in timber impact areas; and amending RCW 28B.80.575 and 28B.80.580.

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

     Sec. 1.  RCW 28B.80.575 and 1991 c 315 s 19 are each amended to read as follows:

     The board shall administer a program designed to provide upper division higher education opportunities to dislocated forest products workers, their spouses, and others in timber impact areas.  In administering the program, the board shall have the following powers and duties:

     (1) Distribute funding for institutions of higher education to service ((placebound)) students in the timber impact areas ((meeting the following criteria, as determined by the employment security department:  (a) A lumber and wood products employment location quotient at or above the state average; (b) a direct lumber and wood products job loss of one hundred positions or more; and (c) an annual unemployment rate twenty percent above the state average));

     (2) Appoint an advisory committee to assist the board in program design and future project selection;

     (3) Monitor the program and report on student progress and outcome; and

     (4) Report to the legislature by December 1, 1993, on the status of the program.

     Sec. 2.  RCW 28B.80.580 and 1991 c 315 s 20 are each amended to read as follows:

     (1) The board shall contract with institutions of higher education to provide upper division classes to serve ((additional placebound)) students in the timber impact areas ((meeting the following criteria, as determined by the employment security department:  (a) A lumber and wood products employment location quotient at or above the state average; (b) a direct lumber and wood products job loss of one hundred positions or more; and (c) an annual unemployment rate twenty percent above the state average; and which are not served by an existing state-funded upper division degree program)).  The number of full-time equivalent students served in this manner shall be determined by the applicable omnibus appropriations act.  The board may direct that ((all)) up to eighty percent of the full-time equivalent enrollments be served in one of the eligible timber impact areas if it should determine that this would be the most viable manner of establishing the program and using available resources.  The institutions shall utilize telecommunication technology, if available, to carry out the purposes of this section.  The institutions providing the service shall waive the tuition, service, and activities fees for dislocated forest products workers or their unemployed spouses enrolled as one of the full-time equivalent students allocated to the college under this section.

     (2) Unemployed spouses of eligible dislocated forest products workers may participate in the program, but tuition and fees may be waived under the program only for the worker or the spouse and not both.

     (3) For any eligible participant, tuition shall be waived for a maximum of four semesters or six quarters within a two-year time period and the participant must be enrolled for a minimum of ten credits per semester or quarter.