A line item on current versions of the next state budget contain the allocation of $400,000 of taxpayer dollars to provide seed money for the development of a law school at the University of Washington Tacoma campus.
The idea of a law school in the 253 area code has been talked about ever since University of Puget Sound sold its downtown Tacoma law school to Seattle University in 1999, prompting a move to the Emerald City. A steering committee to aid the effort formed last spring, however.
The state budget item is the first concrete move to changing that, but it might not survive budget discussions and would also require millions of dollars of other funding to get the law school plans moving forward. Cost of starting a law school branch at the University of Washington in Tacoma have been estimated at $2.25 million.
The seed money is being backed by Tacoma Republican Sen. Steve O’Ban and Puyallup Republican Sen. Bruce Dammeier, who have worked on the idea for years, although UWT officials didn’t formally ask for the money.
O’Ban has been an attorney for 25 years, focused on small business owners, nonprofits and individuals on civil rights, employment and business issues.
Dammeier is a small business owner and former Navy officer as well as being the vice chair of the Health Care and Early Learning and K-12 Education committees; a member of the Ways & Means and and Rules committees, as well as serving on the state Senate Education Accountability System Oversight Committee and the Quality Education Council.
If the state money survives to budget process, the community effort would be tasked with raising the remaining money that would pay for faculty salaries, a law library and support services for the first three years, after which the program would be expected to support itself through tuition.
While UWT plans don’t call for the addition of a law school, it’s role as an urban campus means it also strives to be responsive to local educational needs, university spokesman Mike Wark said.
“We are very responsive to what our community has in mind,” he said.
Any law school branch in Tacoma would have to go through a review by the law department and the university’s administration once the seed money is collected.