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• Introduced by Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D) on February 2, 2011, enacts the Higher Education Opportunity Act authorizing the Legislature to set maximum tuition limits for full time, resident students at community and technical colleges in the appropriations act accompanying the budget for the 2011-12 academic year. This act allows individual community and technical colleges to raise tuition to the limit if the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges does not raise tuition to the limit provided in the appropriation. This act allows four-year institutions to set their own tuition for all students beginning with the 2011-12 academic year and ending with the 2015-16 academic year. This act provides that each four-year institution that raises tuition above seven percent must retain half of the additional revenue for the express purpose of supporting financial aid programs for middle class students. This act requires four-year institutions to provide information to students about available federal tax credits. This act also requires need to be the first criteria in awarding grants.
  • Referred to the House Higher Education Committee on February 2, 2011.
    • Substitute offered in the House on February 14, 2011, removes permission for local colleges to set tuition up to the limit set in the Appropriations Act if the SBCTC does not; permits the SBCTC to institute differential tuition models;requires four-year institutions to use excess revenue to assist lower middle-income students; modifies the amount of revenue that may be used for financial aid; adds a for certain students; adds incentives for four-year institutions that meet performance goals for innovation; and, modifies other provisions related to course descriptions and transfer of credits.
  • Referred to the House Ways & Means Committee on February 16, 2011.
    • Substitute offered in the House on April 14, 2011, removing permission for local colleges to set tuition up to the limit set in the Appropriations Act if the SBCTC does not; permitting the SBCTC to institute differential tuition models; removing the Global Challenge State funding targets; directing public baccalaureate institutions to use revenue that exceeds certain limits be used through various methods to mitigate the effects of tuition increases on middle income students with incomes up to 125 percent of the median family income; changing the percentage for revenue from additional tuition increases to be used for financial aid — in line with the Governor's proposed budget. At the University of Washington, Washington State University, and Western Washington University that is 11 percent per year and at The Evergreen State College, Central Washington University, and Eastern Washington University that rate is 9 percent per year; adding a requirement that the HECB consult with four-year higher education institutions, and the SBCTC, for developing State Need Grant award criteria that does not solely rely on a first-come, first-served basis; replacing a review of the GET Program with changes that require an actuarially sound and predictable payout value to meet the long-term obligations of the account by the State Actuary rather than a nationally recognized actuary; adding the Baccalaureate Degree Innovation Program to provide rewards to four-year higher education institutions that make progress towards meeting individually defined performance goals; removing a requirement for the baccalaureate institutions to develop an action plan for performance; adding permission for public higher education institutions (four-year and community and technical colleges) to charge Running Start Students a fee that is equal to 10 percent of tuition and fees in addition to other mandatory technology fees; and requiring public higher education institutions to publish courses that help students to prepare and design their course of study for transfer and to publish these on their college or institution's websites.
  • Referred to the House Rules Committee on April 19, 2011.
• Received in the House on April 26, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to require the development of a uniform billing statement form to be in use by all of the institutions of higher education no later than the beginning of the 2012-13 academic year. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to direct that high school dual credit programs must be integrated into the K-12 system to the greatest extent possible. Provides that the top quintile of achievers in these programs must be given first preference for lower division course placement and for purposes of financial aid. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, tp direct the HECB to require that institutions of higher education report accountability data in accord with the standardized methods and protocols that have been developed by the HECB in consultation with the Legislature and other entities. Strikes language which required the HECB, by December 1, 2004, to propose a schedule of regular cost study reports. Requires the HECB to complete studies of the costs of instruction, the costs of degrees in specific fields, the costs of precollege remediation, and the costs of attendance by December 1, 2012 and every four years thereafter and report the same to the governor and the legislature. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to guarantee that tuition fees paid by a student shall remain the same for that student for at least four consecutive years following his or her initial enrollment at a public four-year institution of higher education. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to require all institutions of higher education to utilize separate local accounts for each specific and separate mandatory fee. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to require the HECB, in collaboration with the WTECB and the SBCTC, to report to the Legislature and the Governor by December 1, 2011 on the employment rates and wage rates of four year college graduates over the past ten years. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to create an internship program for which businesses may get a business and occupation tax credit equal to 85 percent of the value of payments of wages and benefits paid to interns in qualifying internships. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to provide that cost savings achieved by joint, binding, shared cost-savings agreements between any four or more combinationof two and four-year institutions of higher education shall be retained by the individual institutions. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to permit institutions of higher education to establish and charge Washington school districts for the cost of instruction of precollege courses in which district students enroll within three years of graduating from high school. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to require the WSIPP, in consultation with the HECB and the SBCTC, to conduct a study and report upon student debt carrying capacity and compare this with state financial aid, tuition, and cost of attendance. Requires submittal of the report to the Governor and the Legislature by December 1, 2011. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Glenn Anderson, (R-Fall City) (R) on May 9, 2011, to require that ten percent of all revenues from B&O taxes be deposited into the Education Legacy Trust Account for purposes of the state need grant. Strikes language that was limited to the 2009-11 biennium. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D) on May 9, 2011, to requires the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to conduct an evaluation in 2018 of the tuition-setting authority that is granted to the public baccalaureate institutions. Removes language that makes a public baccalaureate institution's ability to have tuition-setting authority dependent on the institution's performance. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D) on May 9, 2011, to limit increases in building fees and student and activities and other fees to commensurate increases in the median family income. Limits use of building fees to routine facilities and maintenance costs for the 2011 through the 2018 academic years except for those costs that have formerly been committed for construction projects. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Marko Liias, (D-Mukilteo) (D) on May 9, 2011, to replace continued flexible tuition setting authority based on certain limits related to per student funding at similar institutions in the Global Challenges States with a provision that reverts tuition-setting authority for resident undergraduate students to the legislature as set in the appropriations act beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Matt Shea (R) on May 9, 2011, to replace the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) list of program fields with the National Center of Education Statistics, U. S. Department of Education definition of STEM fields. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Judy Warnick, (R-Moses Lake) (R) on May 9, 2011, to create a legislative task force on the baccalaureate funding formula with eight legislative members from the House and Senate and each caucus. Requires that the task force review statutes and budget provisos which govern public institutions offering baccalaureate degrees. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2011.
• Passed 79 to 17 in the House on May 9, 2011, to grant tuition-setting authority to public baccalaureate institutions for all students for four years, through the 2014-15 academic year. Grants tuition-setting authority to public baccalaureate institutions beginning in the 2015-16 academic year within limits based on a state funding baseline year and funding for similar higher education institutions in the Global Challenge States.
  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Received in the Senate on May 10, 2011. Passed 32 to 13 in the Senate on May 10, 2011.
  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Signed with partial veto by Gov. Christine Gregoire on June 6, 2011, to veto sections 13-25 of the bill.