This content was published: June 16, 2009. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Blog: The end of the session is so close, you can taste it
Photos and story by Dana Haynes
The end is nigh.
We should see the end of this legislative session next week. Say Friday, June 26, perhaps. Maybe Thursday; could stretch into that weekend.
I spoke yesterday to two guys who should know. Peter Wong has covered the Legislature longer than any other reporter in Salem. He writes for the Statesman Journal. Brad Cain is the second longest Capitol reporter extant. He writers for the Associated Press.
Both said we’ve got a week or so to go, then we’re out of here.
The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Capital Construction and Information Technology held a rapid-fire hearing last evening on construction projects. That includes our Center for Careers in Education on the Cascade Campus. We should know within days, at most, whether we get the $7.5 million in matching funds we’ve requested.
That leaves just the general support fund: The bank of money that the 17 independent community colleges use for their operating revenue. For 2007-09, we were at $500 million total for the colleges.
The recession being what it is, there’s no way we get that much again. A couple of weeks ago, we were rumored to be at $425 million, a huge cut that would seriously debilitate many of the smaller community colleges.
As of June 10, I was hearing lawmakers talk about boosting that to $440 million. That would be a more palatable cut, but a big cut nonetheless.
My guess is: We’ll know before sunset today.
Stay tuned.
Learn more about PCC and the 2009 Legislature.
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About Dana Haynes
Dana Haynes, joined PCC in 2007 as the manager of the Office of Public Affairs, directing the college's media and government relations. Haynes spent the previous 20 years as a reporter, columnist and editor for Oregon newspapers, including ... more »