OLYMPIA — The Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee approved the legislation to establish a four-year university somewhere in Snohomish County at some point in the future.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, does not specify who will run the college either.
“It’s a major step getting it out of the committee,” Haugen said. “This is really a bill about the future. We know we can’t move forward today with a college, but this will give us hope for the future.”
An amendment made to the bill makes its creation contingent on the findings of a study on the specific statewide needs for new higher education institutions. Results of the study are due late this year.
Meanwhile, two other Senate bills dealing with the launch of a new college died in the same senate panel.
One sought to establish a University of Washington branch campus and the other proposed to create an independently run polytechnic university. That measure relied on Snohomish County voters agreeing to tax themselves to pay for the construction and operation of the college.
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