Steve DuPont of Central Washington University and Daryl Jennings for the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges testified in support of the governor's capital priorities for higher education, while campus officials urged additional funds for projects not fully funded in the executive proposal.

Central Washington University asked lawmakers to consider adding design funding for a behavioral health building that would combine clinical services, training and academic programs; DuPont described the current facility as built in 1970 and "very energy inefficient." Daryl Jennings said community and technical colleges served more than 290,000 students last year and requested funding to address deferred maintenance, utility infrastructure replacement and climate‑compliance projects.

Skill centers and technical colleges raised specific requests. Charlie Brown and Lynnette Brower emphasized the need to fully fund maritime 253, a new skills center in the Tacoma–Pierce County region; Brown said the prior biennium included a partial payment but "that needs to be fully funded; it was not in the governor's budget." West Sound Technical Skills Center director Ryan Nichols thanked the committee for phase 2 support and described an upcoming "topping out" ceremony for a modernization project that will add maritime operations and engineering programs.

Port and regional officials also testified about the workforce connection: Port of Tacoma Commissioner Kristen Ng urged funding for the Maritime 253 skills center and requested $6,000,000 in remedial action grants for cleanup tied to maritime site preparation.

Why it matters: higher education preservation, new training facilities, and maritime skill centers support workforce pipelines for health, maritime, and agricultural industries and often require capital match and site remediation funding.

Provenance: testimony from university representatives, SBCTC and skill center leaders during the capital budget hearing.