2SHB 1792 -
By Representative Dunshee
ADOPTED 03/04/2011
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 A new section is added to chapter 28B.30
RCW to read as follows:
(1) The legislature finds that access to baccalaureate and graduate
degree programs continues to be limited for residents of north
Snohomish, Island, and Skagit counties. Studies conducted by the state
board for community and technical colleges, the higher education
coordinating board, and the council of presidents confirm that
enrollment in higher education compared to demand in this geographic
region lags behind enrollment in other parts of the state, particularly
for upper-division courses leading to advanced degrees.
(2) The legislature also finds that access to high employer demand
programs of study is imperative for the state's global competitiveness
and economic prosperity, particularly those degrees in the science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields that align with the
workforce skill demands of the regional economy, that support the
aerospace industry, and provide skilled undergraduate and
graduate-degree engineers required by the largest employers in the
aerospace industry cluster.
(3) The legislature finds that meeting the long-range goal of
greatly expanded access for the population of the region to the widest
array of baccalaureate and graduate programs can best be accomplished
by assigning responsibility to a research university with multiple
experiences in similar settings.
(4) Management and leadership of the University Center of North
Puget Sound is assigned to Washington State University to meet the
needs of the Everett metropolitan area and the north Snohomish, Island,
and Skagit county region and the state of Washington for baccalaureate
and graduate degrees offered by a state university. The chief
executive officer of the University Center of North Puget Sound is the
director who reports to the president of Washington State University.
The director shall manage the activities and logistics of operating the
center, make policy and planning recommendations to the council in
subsection (5) of this section, and implement decisions of the council.
(5)(a) Washington State University and Everett Community College
must collaborate with community leaders, and other four-year
institutions of higher education that offer programs at the University
Center of North Puget Sound to serve the varied interests of students
in the region. To this end, a coordinating and planning council must
be established to be responsible for long-range and strategic planning,
interinstitutional collaboration, collaboration with the community
served, and dispute resolution for the center. The following
individuals shall comprise the coordinating and planning council:
(i) The president of Washington State University, or his or her
designee;
(ii) The provost of Washington State University, or his or her
designee;
(iii) The president of Everett Community College;
(iv) A representative of one other institution of higher education
that offers baccalaureate or graduate degree programs at the center;
(v) The director of the council, as the nonvoting chair;
(vi) A community leader appointed by the president of Everett
Community College;
(vii) A community leader appointed by the president of Washington
State University; and
(viii) A community leader appointed by the mayor of Everett.
(b) The coordinating and planning council may appoint other groups,
as appropriate, to advise on administration and operations, and may
alter its own composition by agreement of all the members.
(6)(a) Washington State University shall assume leadership of the
center upon completion of a strategic plan for meeting the academic
needs of the region and successful establishment of an engineering
degree program. The strategic plan must build on the strengths of the
institutions, reflecting each institution's mission, in order to
provide the region with the highest standard of educational programs,
research, and service to the community. The strategic plan must
include a multibiennium budget that addresses both operating and
capital expenses required to effectively implement the plan. The
strategic plan shall be developed with the collaboration of the
University Center at Everett Community College and all the institutions
of higher education that provide baccalaureate degrees at the
University Center, and community leaders.
(b) Center partners must implement the strategic plan with careful
attention to the academic and professional standards established and
maintained by each institution and by the appropriate accrediting
bodies, and to the historic role of each institution's governing board
in setting policy.
(c) The strategic plan must address expansion of the range and
depth of educational opportunities in the region and include strategies
that:
(i) Build upon baccalaureate and graduate degree offerings at the
center;
(ii) Meet projected student enrollment demands for baccalaureate,
graduate, and certificate programs in the region;
(iii) Meet employers' needs for skilled workers by expanding high
employer demand programs of study, with an initial emphasis by
Washington State University on undergraduate and graduate engineering
degree programs in a variety of engineering disciplines such as civil,
mechanical, aeronautical, and aerospace manufacturing;
(iv) Coordinate delivery of lower and upper division courses to
maximize student opportunities and resources; and
(v) Transfer budget support and resources for the center from
Everett Community College to Washington State University.
(d) The strategic plan must be completed by July 1, 2013. The
transfer of the responsibility for the management and operation of the
University Center of North Puget Sound to Washington State University
must occur by July 1, 2014.
(7)(a) Academic programming and delivery at the center must be
developed in accordance with the missions of Washington State
University, Everett Community College, and other institutions of higher
education that have a presence at the center.
(b) Each institution shall abide by the guidelines for university
centers adopted by the higher education coordinating board.
(c) Each institution shall award all degrees and certificates
granted in the programs it delivers at the center.
(d) The coordinating council described in subsection (5) of this
section shall establish a process for prioritizing new programs and
revising existing programs that facilitates timeliness of new
offerings, recognizes the internal processes of the proposing
institutions, and addresses each proposal's fit with the needs of the
region.
(8)(a) Washington State University shall review center expansion
needs and consider capital facilities funding at least annually.
Washington State University and Everett Community College must
cooperate in preparing funding requests and bond financing for
submission to the legislature on behalf of development at the center,
in accordance with each institution's process and priorities for
advancing legislative requests.
(b) Washington State University shall design, construct, and manage
any facility developed at the center. Any facility developed at the
center with Everett Community College capital funding must be designed
by Everett Community College in consultation with Washington State
University. Building construction may be managed by Washington State
University via an interagency agreement which details responsibility
and associated costs. Building operations and management for all
facilities at the center must be governed by the infrastructure and
operating cost allocation method described in subsection (9) of this
section.
(9) Washington State University has responsibility for
infrastructure development and maintenance for the center. All
infrastructure operating and maintenance costs are to be shared in what
is deemed to be an equitable and fair manner based on space allocation,
special cost, and other relevant considerations. Washington State
University may make infrastructure development and maintenance
decisions in consultation with the council described in subsection (5)
of this section.
(10) In the event that conflict cannot be resolved through the
coordinating council described in subsection (5) of this section the
higher education coordinating board dispute resolution must be
employed.
Sec. 2 RCW 28B.50.795 and 2010 1st sp.s. c 25 s 1 are each
amended to read as follows:
(1) ((RCW 28B.50.901 assigns responsibility for the north
Snohomish, Island, and Skagit counties' higher education consortium to
Everett Community College. In April of 2009, Everett Community College
opened Gray Wolf Hall, the new home of the University Center of North
Puget Sound. The University Center currently offers over twenty
bachelor's and master's degrees from six partner universities.)) Although Everett Community College offers an associate degree
nursing program that graduates approximately seventy to ninety students
per year, the University Center does not offer a bachelor of science in
nursing. Some graduates of the Everett Community College program are
able to articulate to the bachelor of science in nursing program
offered by the University of Washington-Bothell at its Bothell campus
or in Mt. Vernon but current capacity is not sufficient for all of the
graduates who are both interested and qualified.
(2)
(((3))) (2) Despite recent growth in nursing education capacity,
shortages still persist for registered nurses. According to a June
2007 study by the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho
center for health workforce studies, the average age of Washington's
registered nurses was forty-eight years. More than a third were fifty-five years of age or older. Consequently, the high rate of registered
nurses retiring from nursing practice over the next two decades will
significantly reduce the supply. This reduction comes at the same time
as the state's population grows and ages. The registered nurse
education capacity in Washington has a large impact on the supply of
registered nurses in the state. If the rate of graduation in
registered nursing does not increase, projections show that supply in
Washington will begin to decline by 2015. In contrast, if graduation
rates increased by four hundred per year, the supply of registered
nurses would meet estimated demand by the year 2021.
(((4))) (3) Subject to specific funding to support up to fifty
full-time equivalent students in a bachelor of nursing program, the
University Center ((at Everett Community College)) of North Puget
Sound, in partnership with the University of Washington-Bothell, shall
offer a bachelor of science in nursing program with capacity for up to
fifty full-time students.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 (1) This act takes effect only after the
higher education coordinating board determines whether a needs
assessment and analysis is required and, if so, conducts a needs
assessment and viability determination under RCW 28B.76.230 and
recommends that the provisions in section 1 of this act occur.
(2) The higher education coordinating board shall notify the office
of financial management, the legislature, and the code reviser's office
of the board's recommendations regarding the provisions in section 1 of
this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 RCW 28B.50.901 (Regional higher education
consortium management and leadership--Everett Community College--Educational plan) and 2005 c 258 s 13 are each repealed."
Correct the title.
EFFECT: Assigns management and leadership of the University Center of North Puget Sound to Washington State University. Washington State University must collaborate with the University Center at Everett Community College and other university partners that offer baccalaureate degrees at the University Center to develop a strategic plan. Requires that the strategic plan build on degrees offered at the University Center; addresses demand for degrees by students and employers and a variety of engineering disciplines; and includes a multibiennium budget. Creates a Coordinating and Planning council to develop the strategic plan. Requires that the strategic plan be completed by July 1, 2013, and that the transfer of operation and management occur by July 1, 2014.