Investing in the Future
The Washington State Legislature’s budget determines which programs and projects, including financial aid and hands-on learning, will be funded in the coming year. Despite significant challenges, the most recent session produced exciting results, particularly for higher education in general and WSU in particular.
In 2024, WSU Impact members proudly supported:
Senate Bill 5913 - Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL)
Governor Jay Inslee signed into law a bill that will clarify state ethics law for university employees engaging student athletes in activities regarding the student’s name, image, and likeness (NIL).
Senate Bill 5913 received bipartisan support from lawmakers in the Senate and House during the 2024 legislative session that adjourned last week. Sponsored by Sen. Javier Valdez, the bill responds to guidelines adopted by the NCAA in 2021 that permit student athletes to engage in activities involving NIL. Since then, several states have adopted a patchwork of policies related to NIL.
The Ethics in Public Service Act governs public employee activity and is ambiguous about NIL activities. The bill amends the Act to clarify that certain public university employees in Washington are not prohibited from using public resources in advising, facilitation, acknowledgement or education pertaining to NIL and student athletes seeking to benefit from it, so long as those resources are within the discretion of the employee.
$40 million to match philanthropic funds to build a new student services building for the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
Thanks to a huge investment from Edmund and Beatriz Schweitzer and the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, WSU has already made great headway on its funding goal without asking the legislature.
Previous Victories:
Reauthorizing the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation
WSU prioritized a reauthorization of the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation.
A bill passed by the Legislature and sent to the governor will extend its sunset date from 2020 to 2030. Established in 2012, JCATI was appropriated $3 million in the biennial budget to fund seed grants for research in the aerospace industry at state institutions of higher education. About $1.2 million of those funds, on average, have funded research projects at WSU.
Washington State Soil Health Initiative
Successfully funded in the operating budget was the Soil Health Initiative, a multi-agency research and extension initiative between WSU, the state Department of Agriculture and the state Conservation Commission. Legislation was passed in tandem with the funding in the operating budget that formally establishes the initiative to develop new strategies to improve soil across the state and get those strategies into the hands of growers
Washington State University Vancouver Life Sciences Building
$4 million of the state’s supplemental capital budget in the capital budget will go towards designing the Life Science Building at WSU Vancouver. Just over half of the student body at WSU Vancouver is composed of first-generation college students.
The building will provide much needed teaching and research space, so that this campus can continue to enhance educational attainment in Southwest Washington, alongside its regional educational partners.