"Sec. 1   RCW 28B.45.030 and 2005 c 258 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Washington State University is responsible for providing baccalaureate and graduate level higher education programs to the citizens of the Tri-Cities area, under rules or guidelines adopted by the higher education coordinating board and in accordance with proportionality agreements emphasizing access for transfer students developed with the state board for community and technical colleges. Washington State University shall meet that responsibility through the operation of a branch campus in the Tri-Cities area. The branch campus shall replace and supersede the Tri-Cities university center. All land, facilities, equipment, and personnel of the Tri-Cities university center shall be transferred from the University of Washington to Washington State University.
     (2) Washington State University Tri-Cities shall continue providing innovative coadmission and coenrollment options with Columbia Basin College, and expand its upper division capacity for transfer students and graduate capacity and programs. The campus shall also seek additional opportunities to collaborate with the Pacific Northwest national laboratory. ((Beginning in the fall of 2006, the campus may offer lower division courses linked to specific majors in fields not addressed at local community colleges. The campus may admit lower division students through coadmission or coenrollment agreements with a community college, or through direct transfer for students who have accumulated approximately one year of transferable college credits. In addition to offering lower division courses linked to specific majors as addressed above, the campus may also directly admit freshmen and sophomores for a bachelor's degree program in biotechnology subject to approval by the higher education coordinating board. The campus may not directly admit freshmen and sophomores for degree programs other than biotechnology, however this topic shall be the subject of further study and recommendations by the higher education coordinating board.))
     (3) Beginning in the fall of 2006, the campus may admit lower division students directly, while continuing to work closely with Columbia Basin College providing innovative coadmission, coenrollment, and program options as articulated in the Columbia Basin College and Washington State University Tri-Cities Coordinated Bachelors agreement. By simultaneously admitting freshmen and sophomores, increasing transfer enrollment, coadmitting transfer students, and expanding graduate and professional programs, the campus shall develop into a four-year institution of higher education serving the Tri-Cities region."