Legislative session

The Washington state legislature ended its 2023 session on April 23, passing robust operating and capital budgets that will strengthen Evergreen and enhance our support for students. 

The budgets reflect Evergreen’s energetic advocacy on behalf of our students, staff and faculty. Many of them, along with Evergreen alumni and board members, engaged directly with legislators over the session. The budgets are also strong evidence of appreciation and respect for the work Evergreen is doing to raise enrollment and improve service to students.

A little more than halfway through the legislative session, we are now past the point where new bills can be introduced other than those necessary for a budget. This is a time where the Senate is hearing bills passed by the House, and the House those passed by the Senate.

Meanwhile, everyone is waiting for the state’s March 20 revenue forecast, which will be used by legislators to shape their budget proposals. The legislature then has until the end of session April 23 to finalize a budget for the state, which will include funding for Evergreen.

On Friday February 17, the 2023 legislative session reached its first "cut-off" day, the final day where new legislation could be heard and voted on in policy committees. Friday February 24 was the second "cut-off," when the House and Senate fiscal committees had to pass bills onward for them to be viable.

With the first month of a four-month legislative session behind us, Evergreen has been engaged on bills that would help students across Washington meet their basic needs and grant scholarships to Native American students.

We’re now two weeks into the 2023 legislative session, which is mostly in-person after two years of remote operations. Evergreen has a new government relations director, positive momentum around enrollment and a fair budget proposed by Governor Inslee that will help us serve students in new and traditional ways.

The Governor released his budget proposals for the 2023-25 biennium. These proposed budgets include nearly all of Evergreen's budget requests for the biennium.

Hello and happy fall 2022. This update will provide a brief overview of legislative related activities during the 2022 interim and some good news about campus!