WSU optimistic about state appropriations

Washington State University leaders have reason to be optimistic about coming appropriations from the state, according to WSU Director of State Relations Chris Mulick.

In a virtual meeting of WSU’s Board of Regents Friday, Mulick said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s budget request, made public in December, is widely held by legislative leaders as a “good starting point.” He said while there were some modest reductions for higher education in the request, Inslee’s budget avoided dramatic cuts to state appropriations feared by university leaders.

He said despite small reductions, Inslee’s budget includes the final sliver of core funding for WSU’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and also would provide money for a new academic building at WSU Tri-Cities.

Mulick said while the effects of the pandemic have been unevenly felt across demographics, the state economy as a whole has been incredibly resilient, noting tax collections have routinely outperformed expectations since at least June. He said if the economy can hold strong for a few more months, state lawmakers will be in a position to draft a two-year budget that does not include deep, much feared reductions.

“In June, I would oftentimes finish meetings with legislators telling them that we need them to be the very best that they can for higher ed,” Mulick said. “Now we’re in a position to ask them to provide a no-cuts budget for higher ed and so we’ve made up a lot of ground economically, and I’m really hoping that we can hang on to that.”

The governor has taken steps to bolster the amount of money available for capital projects in his budget as well, Mulick said. He said the strategy is to basically take spending that would have occurred in the ‘23-’25 biennium and include it with his request for ‘21-’23. While leaders in the state legislature appear less keen to follow Inslee’s strategy, Mulick said hope is still strong that there will be a robust budget for funding capital projects.

Mulick said in a normal year, legislators are concerned with the “why” of these projects. This year, he said, they appear much more concerned about these projects’ ability to create jobs. This is to WSU’s advantage, he said. Investing in construction and maintenance throughout the WSU system supports economies and job creation throughout the state, not just in Pullman.“When you contemplate where we will sprinkle our minor works funding for preservation activities, obviously we’ve got outposts all across the state,” he said. “So, if you’re a legislator looking to find ways to get dollars into as many communities as possible, you can do that by investing in WSU in the capital budget.”

Scott Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.