H-4174              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2981

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Representatives Jacobsen, Van Luven, Spanel, Prince and P. King

Read first time 1/29/90 and referred to Committee on Higher Education.

AN ACT Relating to the higher education coordinating board; and amending RCW 28B.80.330.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 4, chapter 370, Laws of 1985 and RCW 28B.80.330 are each amended to read as follows:

          The board shall perform the following planning duties in consultation with the four-year institutions, the community college system, and when appropriate the commission for vocational education, the superintendent of public instruction for the vocational-technical institutes, 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 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 workforce; 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;

          (c) Guidelines for continuing education, adult education, public service, and other higher education programs.

          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 biennially, 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 biennial 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 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 October 15 of each even-numbered year, and to the legislature by January 1 of each odd-numbered year;

          (5) Recommend legislation affecting higher education;

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

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

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

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