[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to including existing community support and multimodal transportation considerations in higher education coordinating board comprehensive master plans; and amending RCW 28B.80.330.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 28B.80.330 and 1997 c 369 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:

The board shall perform the following planning duties in consultation with the four-year institutions, the community and technical college system, and when appropriate the work force training and education coordinating board, the superintendent of public instruction, and the independent higher educational institutions:

(1) Develop and establish role and mission statements for each of the four-year institutions and for the community and technical college system;

(2) Identify the state's higher education goals, objectives, and priorities;

(3) Prepare a comprehensive master plan which includes but is not limited to:

(a) Assessments of the state's higher education needs. These assessments may include, but are not limited to: The basic and continuing needs of various age groups; business and industrial needs for a skilled work force; analyses of demographic, social, and economic trends; consideration of the changing ethnic composition of the population and the special needs arising from such trends; college attendance, retention, and dropout rates, and the needs of recent high school graduates and placebound adults. The board should consider the needs of residents of all geographic regions, but its initial priorities should be applied to heavily populated areas underserved by public institutions;

(b) Recommendations on enrollment and other policies and actions to meet those needs;

(d) Mechanisms through which the state's higher education system can meet the needs of employers hiring for industrial projects of statewide significance; and

(e) Mechanisms through which siting of the state's higher education system can support existing population centers and promote greater use of multimodal transportation.

The initial plan shall be submitted to the governor and the legislature by December 1, 1987. Comments on the plan from the board's advisory committees and the institutions shall be submitted with the plan.

The plan shall be updated every four years, and presented to the governor and the appropriate legislative policy committees. Following public hearings, the legislature shall, by concurrent resolution, approve or recommend changes to the initial plan, and the updates. The plan shall then become state higher education policy unless legislation is enacted to alter the policies set forth in the plan;

(4) Review, evaluate, and make recommendations on operating and capital budget requests from four-year institutions and the community and technical college system, based on the elements outlined in subsections (1), (2), and (3) of this section, and on guidelines which outline the board's fiscal priorities. These guidelines shall be distributed to the institutions and the community college board by December of each odd-numbered year. The institutions and the community college board shall submit an outline of their proposed budgets, identifying major components, to the board no later than August 1 of each even-numbered year. The board shall submit recommendations on the proposed budgets and on the board's budget priorities to the office of financial management before November 1st of each even-numbered year, and to the legislature by January 1 of each odd-numbered year;

(5) Institutions and the state board for community and technical colleges shall submit any supplemental budget requests and revisions to the board at the same time they are submitted to the office of financial management. The board shall submit recommendations on the proposed supplemental budget requests to the office of financial management by November 1st and to the legislature by January 1st;

(6) Recommend legislation affecting higher education;

(7) Recommend tuition and fees policies and levels based on comparisons with peer institutions;

(8) Establish priorities and develop recommendations on financial aid based on comparisons with peer institutions;

(9) Prepare recommendations on merging or closing institutions; and

(10) Develop criteria for identifying the need for new baccalaureate institutions.