A tight state budget doesn’t appear to be a barrier to Columbia Basin College receiving funding for several construction projects. 

State senators and representatives included a requested $54 million for a new performing arts building for the college’s Pasco campus in their capital budgets, according to legislative documents. Both budget versions also include $18 million for a new student housing project on the corner of 20th Avenue and Argent Road, which recently was issued a building permit. 

The chamber budgets are not fully identical; they include funding for all the same projects across the state’s community and technical colleges, save for the Senate also including funding for a building at Cascadia College, according to the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges. The House capital budget has $403 million for the colleges while the Senate budget has $400 million, with the difference being the Senate structuring funding for minor works differently. 

Other community and technical colleges receiving capital funding include Grays Harbor, Olympic, Lower Columbia, Whatcom, Edmonds, Clover Park Technical, Renton Technical and South Puget Sound.