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AN ACT Relating to higher education; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 28B RCW; creating new sections; repealing RCW 28B.20.100, 28B.20.105, 28B.20.110, 28B.20.130, 28B.30.100, 28B.30.120, 28B.30.125, 28B.30.130, 28B.30.135, 28B.30.150, 28B.35.100, 28B.35.105, 28B.35.110, 28B.35.120, 28B.40.100, 28B.40.105, 28B.40.110, and 28B.40.120; providing effective dates; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that Washington faces significant challenges in the coming years in its attempt to provide its residents with access to higher education. Washington's economy is in the process of a radical transformation from an economy heavily dependent on natural resources to an economy that depends increasingly on the strength of international trade, technology industries, and other emerging new businesses. Successful economic transformations will require an educated populace, able to compete in a technologically complex world. Yet, during the 1980's and 1990's enrollments in Washington's public baccalaureate institutions have been strictly controlled. Currently, Washington ranks second to last nationally in the percentage of its citizens who have an opportunity to enroll in a public baccalaureate college or university. By the year 2010, high school graduation classes in Washington will grow by fifty percent above the number of students graduating in 1995. Yet, the state has not yet made a commitment to providing enrollment opportunities for those new high school graduates. Failure to provide postsecondary educational opportunities for those graduates may well restrict their future earning power as well as the state's economic health.

The legislature finds that the governance structure of Washington's baccalaureate universities and colleges needs to be revised to assist the institutions to meet the challenges facing the state in the coming years. The legislature also finds that the governance structure of the community and technical colleges provides an excellent model for the baccalaureate institutions. The state-wide board leading community and technical colleges has helped to ensure that system needs are met while each individual college in the system seeks to ensure that the needs of its local community are met. The legislature intends to unify and strengthen the public baccalaureate universities and colleges by creating a consolidated governing board for them. The board will be able to advocate for the needs of the baccalaureate system while the institutions concentrate on meeting the needs of students, institutional personnel, and members of the communities served by the institutions.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Board" means the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education.

(2) "System" means the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education is created. The system shall include, but need not be limited to: The University of Washington, Washington State University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, The Evergreen State College, Western Washington University, and the branch campuses and extension centers of each of the universities and the state college.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The governance of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education shall be vested in a board of regents consisting of fifteen members. Members shall be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate, and shall hold their offices for a term of six years from the first day of October and until their successors are appointed and qualified. Eight members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. In the case of a vacancy, or when an appointment is made after the date of the expiration of a term, the governor shall fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term of the regent whose office has become vacant or expired. No more than the terms of three members may expire simultaneously on the last day of September in any one year.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The board may organize by electing from its membership a president and an executive committee. If an executive committee is appointed, the president shall be ex officio chair. The board may adopt bylaws or rules for its own government. The board shall hold regular meetings, at least quarterly, and during the interim between such meetings the executive committee may transact business for the whole board. The executive committee may call special meetings of the whole board when such action is deemed necessary.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) The board shall ensure that a record of all board proceedings is carefully preserved.

(2) The board may appoint a secretary and a treasurer who shall hold their respective offices during the pleasure of the board and carry out such respective duties as the board prescribes.

(3) If appointed, the treasurer shall give bond for the faithful performance of the duties of his or her office in such amount as the regents may require. The university shall pay the fee for such bond.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The general powers and duties of the board shall be as follows:

(1) To have full control of the system and its money and property of various kinds, except as otherwise provided by law;

(2) To employ a chancellor for the system, a chief operating officer or president for each campus of the system, assistants, members of the faculty, and employees of each institution of higher education, who except as otherwise provided by law, shall hold their positions during the pleasure of the board;

(3) To establish entrance requirements for students seeking admission to each campus of the system. The requirements shall meet or exceed the standards specified under RCW 28B.80.350(2). Completion of examinations satisfactory to the board may be a prerequisite for entrance by any applicant at the board's discretion. Evidence of completion of public high schools and other educational institutions whose courses of study meet the approval of the board may be acceptable for entrance;

(4) To establish such colleges, schools, or departments necessary to carry out the purposes of the system and not otherwise proscribed by law;

(5) With the assistance of the faculty of the system, to prescribe the course of study in the various colleges, schools, and departments of each campus of the system and publish the necessary catalogues thereof;

(6) To grant to students such certificates or degrees as recommended for such students by the faculty. The board, upon recommendation of the faculty, may also confer honorary degrees upon persons other than graduates of the system in recognition of their learning or devotion to literature, art, or science, however no degree may ever be conferred in consideration of the payment of money or the giving of property of whatsoever kind;

(7) To accept such gifts, grants, conveyances, bequests, and devises, whether real or personal property, or both, in trust or otherwise, for the use or benefit of the system, its campuses, its colleges, schools, departments, or agencies; and sell, lease or exchange, invest, or expend the same or the proceeds, rents, profits, and income thereof except as limited by the terms of the gifts, grants, conveyances, bequests, and devises. The board shall adopt proper rules to govern and protect the receipt and expenditure of the proceeds of all fees, and the proceeds, rents, profits, and income of all gifts, grants, conveyances, bequests, and devises accepted under this subsection, and shall make full report of the same in the customary biennial report to the governor and members of the legislature, or more frequently if required by law;

(8) Except as otherwise provided by law, to enter into such contracts as the regents deem essential to the purposes of the system and its campuses;

(9) To submit upon request such reports as will be helpful to the governor and to the legislature in providing for the system; and

(10) Subject to the approval of the higher education coordinating board pursuant to RCW 28B.80.340, to offer new degree programs, offer off-campus programs, participate in consortia or centers, contract for off-campus educational programs, and purchase or lease major off-campus facilities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. In addition to the duties in sections 5 through 7 of this act, the board shall have the following additional duties for Washington State University and its branch campuses:

(1) To collect such information as the board deems desirable as to the schemes of technical instruction adopted in other parts of the United States and foreign countries;

(2) To provide for holding agricultural institutes including farm marketing forums;

(3) To provide that instruction, as far as practicable, be conveyed by means of laboratory work and provide one or more physical, chemical, and biological laboratories, and suitably furnish and equip the laboratories;

(4) To provide training in military tactics for those students electing to participate in military tactics;

(5) To establish a department of elementary science and in connection therewith provide instruction in elementary mathematics, including elementary trigonometry, elementary mechanics, elementary and mechanical drawing, and land surveying;

(6) To establish a department of agriculture and in connection therewith provide instruction in physics with special application of its principles to agriculture, chemistry with special application of its principles to agriculture, morphology and physiology of plants with special reference to common grown crops and fungus enemies, morphology and physiology of the lower forms of animal life, with special reference to insect pests, morphology and physiology of the higher forms of animal life and in particular of the horse, cow, sheep, and swine, agriculture with special reference to the breeding and feeding of livestock and the best mode of cultivation of farm produce, and mining and metallurgy, appointing demonstrators in each of these subjects to superintend the equipment of a laboratory and to give practical instruction therein;

(7) To establish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the department of agriculture, including at least one in the western portion of the state, and appoint the officers and prescribe rules for their management;

(8) To receive and expend the money appropriated under the act of congress approved May 8, 1914, entitled "An Act to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the several States receiving the benefits of the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and Acts supplemental thereto and the United States Department of Agriculture" and organize and conduct agricultural extension work in accordance with the terms and conditions expressed in the acts of congress;

(9) To acquire by lease, gift, or otherwise, lands necessary to further the work of the system or for experimental or demonstrational purposes;

(10) To establish and maintain at least one agricultural experiment station in an irrigation district to conduct investigational work upon the principles and practices of irrigational agriculture including the use of water and its relation to soil types, crops, climatic conditions, ditch and drain construction, fertility investigations, plant disease, insect pests, marketing, farm management, use of fruit byproducts, and general development of agriculture under irrigation conditions;

(11) To supervise and control the agricultural experiment station at Puyallup;

(12) To establish and maintain at Wenatchee an agricultural experiment substation for the purpose of conducting investigational work upon the principles and practices of orchard culture, spraying, fertilization, pollenization, new fruit varieties, fruit diseases and pests, byproducts, marketing, management, and general horticultural problems; and

(13) To construct when the board so determines a new foundry and a mining, physical, technological building and fabrication shop, or add to the present foundry and other buildings, in order that both instruction and research be expanded to include permanent molding and die casting with a section for new fabricating techniques, especially for light metals, including magnesium and aluminum; purchase equipment for the shops and laboratories in mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering; establish a pilot plant for the extraction of alumina from native clays and other possible light metal research; purchase equipment for a research laboratory for technological research generally; and purchase equipment for research in electronics, instrumentation, energy sources, plastics, food technology, mechanics of materials, hydraulics, and similar fields.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College are hereby abolished and their powers, duties, and functions are hereby transferred to the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education. All references to the trustees, regents, or the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College in the Revised Code of Washington shall be construed to mean the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education.

(2)(a) All reports, documents, surveys, books, records, files, papers, or written material in the possession of the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College shall be delivered to the custody of the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education. All cabinets, furniture, office equipment, motor vehicles, and other tangible property employed by the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College shall be made available to the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education. All funds, credits, or other assets held by the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College shall be assigned to the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education.

(b) Any appropriations made to the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College shall, on the effective date of this section, be transferred and credited to the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education.

(c) If any question arises as to the transfer of any personnel, funds, books, documents, records, papers, files, equipment, or other tangible property used or held in the exercise of the powers and the performance of the duties and functions transferred, the director of financial management shall make a determination as to the proper allocation and certify the same to the state agencies concerned.

(3) All employees of the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College are transferred to the jurisdiction of the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education. All employees classified under chapter 41.06 RCW, the state civil service law, are assigned to the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education to perform their usual duties upon the same terms as formerly, without any loss of rights, subject to any action that may be appropriate thereafter in accordance with the laws and rules governing state civil service.

(4) All rules and all pending business before the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College shall be continued and acted upon by the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education. All existing contracts and obligations shall remain in full force and shall be performed by the board of regents of the Washington state system of baccalaureate and graduate education.

(5) The transfer of the powers, duties, functions, and personnel of the governing boards of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College shall not affect the validity of any act performed before the effective date of this section.

(6) If apportionments of budgeted funds are required because of the transfers directed by this section, the director of financial management shall certify the apportionments to the agencies affected, the state auditor, and the state treasurer. Each of these shall make the appropriate transfer and adjustments in funds and appropriation accounts and equipment records in accordance with the certification.

(7) Nothing contained in this section may be construed to alter any existing collective bargaining unit or the provisions of any existing collective bargaining agreement until the agreement has expired or until the bargaining unit has been modified by action of the personnel board as provided by law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:

(1) RCW 28B.20.100 and 1985 c 61 s 1, 1979 ex.s. c 103 s 2, 1973 c 62 s 7, & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.20.100;

(2) RCW 28B.20.105 and 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.20.105;

(3) RCW 28B.20.110 and 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.20.110;

(4) RCW 28B.20.130 and 1985 c 370 s 92, 1977 c 75 s 20, & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.20.130;

(5) RCW 28B.30.100 and 1985 c 61 s 2, 1979 ex.s. c 103 s 3, 1973 c 62 s 10, & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.30.100;

(6) RCW 28B.30.120 and 1979 ex.s. c 103 s 6 & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.30.120;

(7) RCW 28B.30.125 and 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.30.125;

(8) RCW 28B.30.130 and 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.30.130;

(9) RCW 28B.30.135 and 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.30.135;

(10) RCW 28B.30.150 and 1985 c 370 s 93, 1977 c 75 s 21, 1973 1st ex.s. c 154 s 47, & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.30.150;

(11) RCW 28B.35.100 and 1985 c 137 s 1, 1979 ex.s. c 103 s 4, & 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 45;

(12) RCW 28B.35.105 and 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 46;

(13) RCW 28B.35.110 and 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 47;

(14) RCW 28B.35.120 and 1985 c 370 s 94 & 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 48;

(15) RCW 28B.40.100 and 1985 c 137 s 2, 1979 ex.s. c 103 s 5, 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 65, 1973 c 62 s 11, & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.40.100;

(16) RCW 28B.40.105 and 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 66 & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.40.105;

(17) RCW 28B.40.110 and 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 67 & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.40.110; and

(18) RCW 28B.40.120 and 1985 c 370 s 95, 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 68, & 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28B.40.120.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. The house of representatives and the senate committees on higher education shall report to the legislature by December 1, 1995, their recommendations and draft legislation to conform existing higher education statutes to the system of higher education governance in this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. (1) The governor shall appoint the board of regents created in section 4 of this act no later than November 1, 1995.

(2) The board of regents shall begin meeting as soon as possible after appointment in order to plan for the orderly transition of baccalaureate institutions of higher education to the jurisdiction of the board.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. Sections 1 through 8 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 28B RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. Sections 4 and 11 of this act are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1995.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. Sections 1 through 3 and 5 through 10 of this act shall take effect July 1, 1996.