HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 2474

             As Reported By House Committee On:

                      Higher Education

Title:  An act relating to technical and career training and education.

Brief Description:  Eliminating the requirement that degree‑granting private vocational schools participate in the tuition recovery trust fund.

Sponsors:  Representatives Mulliken, Mason, Schoesler and Carlson.

Brief History:

  Committee Activity:

Higher Education:  1/25/96 [DP].

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Majority Report:  Do pass.  Signed by 12 members:  Representatives Carlson, Chairman; Mulliken, Vice Chairman; Jacobsen, Ranking Minority Member; Mason, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Basich; Benton; Blanton; Delvin; Goldsmith; Mastin; Scheuerman and Sheahan.

Staff:  Marilee Scarbrough (786-7196).

Background:  Statutes creating the tuition recovery trust fund account for degree-granting private vocational schools were enacted in 1994.  The account is administered by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.  The account was created to provide funds for the settlement of claims related to school closures and claims.  The legislation provides that each degree-granting private vocational school will make deposits to the account.  The Higher Education Coordinating Board determines the operating balance and the amount of liability that can be satisfied for each degree-granting private vocational school.

Summary of Bill:  The statutes (RCW 28B.85.200 and 28B.85.210) creating the trust account for degree granting private vocational schools are repealed.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  The current provisions are burdensome and unnecessary.  Since the passage of this legislation in 1994 the oversight by the Higher Education Coordinating Board has strengthened.  The federal law has increased federal standards.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Susan Patrick, Higher Education Coordinating Board; Gena Wickstrom, Executive Director, Washington Federation Private Schools and Colleges; and Les Pritchard, Seattle Art Institute.