COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Representative Don Carlson, Chair

BILL ANALYSIS

HB 1684

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:  Requiring only collected building fees of community and technical colleges to be paid to the state treasury.

BACKGROUND:  Tuition has two components, building fees and operating fees.  Building fees are used to help fund new capital projects, the equipment for new buildings, and the renovation and repair of existing facilities.  Building fees may also be used as a revenue stream to help repay the bonds used to finance some capital construction projects. 

Public institutions of higher education must deposit the building fee portion of tuition into the state treasury within 35 days of the beginning of each academic term.  The laws governing building fees for the baccalaureate institutions require those institutions to remit collected fees into the treasury within 35 days.  The law governing building fees for the community and technical colleges does not distinguish between collected fees and those that are owed but not collected.  During a 1996 fiscal audit of one of the community colleges, the state auditor=s office questioned the college=s practice of depositing into the treasury only the revenue from the collected building fees.  The college was following the practice of all other community colleges and all baccalaureate institutions.

SUMMARY:  Within 35 days of the start of each quarter, community and technical colleges will deposit collected building fee revenue into the state treasury.