The construction of EWU’s science building is on hold until the capital budget for Washington state is approved and passed by the state Senate.

Facilities’ construction staff was given a budget of $4,791,000 to complete the building’s construction. The fiscal year ended on June 30, 2017 and the Senate had to re-evaluate and approve a $4 billion budget for construction projects within Washington state beginning in the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

The state Senate has not agreed on a budget, primarily because the council has not come to an agreement on a water rights law, known as the Hirst Decision. The Hirst Decision is a ruling between developers against Native American tribes and environmentalists over water.

Republicans in the state Senate announced that they would not allow a final vote on the two-year capital construction budget until a solution is found to the court ruling. This is due to the significant impact the Hirst Decision will have on the economy, water resources, and environment.

“We have to be very careful about what we do, lest management of state water resources is changed forever,” Rep. Larry Springer said in a Spokesman-Review article on Aug. 9.

EWU announced the construction project in April 2017. The goal of the project was to build a state of the art science center supporting the Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics departments within the College of Science, Technology, and Engineering and Mathematics.

The project was designed to be completed within 60 days and all designs are complete, but further steps cannot begin until permitted by the state Senate.

Senior Project Manager, Troy Bester, said via phone, “The project will still be completed within two months, as soon as we receive the approval, we will open bidding for the project.”

The project will now shift accordingly when the budget is approved after the state Senate reaches an agreement on the Hirst decision. The decision is expected to be made in October or November but could go as late as January 2018.

“These are new grounds of anything we’ve ever experienced before,” Bester said.