SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 5977

As Reported by Senate Committee On:

Higher Education, February 19, 2015

Title: An act relating to decodifying, expiring, and making nonsubstantive changes to community and technical college provisions.

Brief Description: Decodifying, expiring, and making nonsubstantive changes to community and technical college provisions.

Sponsors: Senators Bailey, Kohl-Welles and McAuliffe; by request of State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Higher Education: 2/19/15 [DP].

Majority Report: Do pass.

Signed by Senators Bailey, Chair; Baumgartner, Vice Chair; Kohl-Welles, Ranking Minority Member; Becker, Frockt, Liias and Miloscia.

Staff: Evan Klein (786-7483)

Background: There are 34 community and technical colleges (CTCs) in Washington which are governed by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (State Board). The State Board is governed by a nine-member board responsible for administering the Community and Technical College Act and providing leadership and coordination for Washington's public community and technical colleges. Community and technical colleges in Washington State are governed by title 28B of the Revised Code of Washington.

Summary of Bill: The following community and technical college provisions are set to expire on August 1, 2015:

• Displaced Homemaker Act;

• Project Even Start;

• the second-year waiver of tuition and fees for recipients of the Washington award for vocational excellence;

• Opportunity Express Website;

• the high school completion pilot program;

• Lake Washington Institute of Technology board of trustees;

• Renton Technical College board of trustees;

• Bellingham Technical College board of trustees;

• Bates Technical College board of trustees;

• Clover Park Technical College board of trustees;

• facilities shared by the vocational technical institute program and K–12;

• collection of student tuition and fees for Seattle Vocational Institute;

• accumulated sick leave for transferred employees of vocational-technical institutes; and

• Cascadia Community College board of trustees.

The following provisions are decodified:

• 1972 community colleges facilities aid bonds;

• 1975 community college special capital projects bond act;

• 1975 community college general capital projects bond act;

• 1976 community college capital projects bond act;

• 1977 community college capital projects bond act;

• 1979 community college capital projects bond act;

• 1981 community college capital projects bond act;

• title to or all interest in real estate and assets obtained for vocational-technical institute purposes;

• transfer of powers from school districts to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges;

• transfer of powers from the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; and

• effective dates from 1991 in RCW 28B.50.917.

The following provisions have had "technical colleges" added to them:

• purchases of works of art procedures;

• student loans, federal student aid programs;

• interfering by force or violence with any administrator, faculty member, or student unlawfully;

• intimidating any administrator, faculty member, or student by threat or force or violence is unlawful;

• remunerated professional leaves for faculty members of institutions of higher education;

• classification as resident or nonresident student;

• classification as a resident or nonresident student, standards for determining domicile;

• "Building fees" defined;

• "Services and activities fees" defined;

• tuition and fees set by individual institutions, limitations;

• waiver of tuition and fees for wrongly convicted persons and their children;

• community colleges, state-funded enrollment levels, summer school levels and enrollment level variances;

• waiver of tuition and fees for long-term unemployed or underemployed persons;

• waiver of tuition and fees for state employees and educational employees;

• tuition waivers for veterans and national guard members;

• limitation on total tuition and fee waivers;

• waiver of operating fees; and

• faculty tenure.

The time-limited provisions are deleted and on-going provisions for the Washington mathematics placement test and mathematics college readiness test are retained.

The waiver related to the expired tuition and fees pilot project under 28B.15.067 is deleted. The waiver for students receiving the Washington Scholars award before July 1994 is deleted. The waiver for students receiving the Washington award for vocational excellence before July 1994 is deleted.

District names are replaced with district numbers in the definition of technical college.

Federal citations for vocational education of individuals with disabilities are updated.

The Seattle Vocational Institute exemption for faculty tenure that expired in 1993 is deleted.

Technical colleges are added to the community college waiver limit.

Technical colleges are added to permissive and mandatory waiver provisions for high school completion programs.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: This bill cleans up outdated laws on the books. This bill is focused on CTCs and is non-substantive. It removes old bond statutes, defunded waivers, and cleans up provisions from a 1991 transition of vocational schools. This also adds technical colleges to a number of tuition, fees, and other provisions. It is a technical edit around bringing technical colleges into references about the CTC system.

Persons Testifying: PRO: Alison Grazzini, WA State Board for CTCs.