The Executive Board made a recommendation to the state Legislature regarding the membership criteria for its board seats.

The Operations Committee has been reviewing the Executive Board membership criteria to be as inclusive as possible and ensure that jurisdictions that want to be represented at PSRC have the opportunity to do so. The Executive Board approved the final two-part recommendation.

The first recommendation is in regards to the current requirement that 50 percent of the board members representing cities and counties also be transit agency board members. It is now recommended that this be changed to 50 percent of the weighted vote.

The second recommendation is to increase representation of individual cities, specifically any city in King County that has at least 3 percent of the county population and any city with at least 5 percent of the county population in Kitsap, Pierce or Snohomish counties. Newly eligible cities would currently include Bainbridge Island, Lakewood, Edmonds, and Lynnwood. This would raise Executive Board membership by four to 36 members. The state Legislature will make the final decision on the recommendation.

For more information, contact Robin Rock at 206-464-7091 or rrock@psrc.org.

The Executive Board heard a briefing on the work of the Prosperity Partnership's Higher Education Working Group.

The Higher Education Working Group has been working since January with elected, business, and academic leaders to develop a policy proposal to increase production of bachelor's degrees in Washington, with an emphasis on high demand fields.

Washington is among the top 10 states for per-capita employment of engineers, computer scientists, life scientists and many other advanced fields. But we're 38th in graduating students in science and engineering fields - the very fields we lead the nation in employing. We're importing people with bachelor's degrees to fill too many of the jobs created by our growing economy.

An example: The state predicts nearly 3,900 computer specialist job openings each year, yet colleges and universities in Washington annually produce only about 635 graduates in this field.

To ensure our region and state remain competitive in the global economy, the Higher Education Working Group is proposing to increase bachelor's degree production in Washington by 8,000 degrees by 2010, with 2,000 additional by 2020. These degrees would be focused in high-demand fields: computer specialists, engineers, life scientists, medical researchers, nurses, and secondary teachers. The proposal also calls for increases in associate's degrees for diagnosing and treating practitioners and health technologists and technicians.

For more information, contact Angela Kerwin at 206-587-5061, akerwin@psrc.org, or go to prosperitypartnership.org.

The Executive Board welcomed Dave Earling and Margaret Pageler from the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board for a presentation on common issues that come before the Hearings Board.

The Hearings Board exists to resolve appeals arising from implementation of the Growth Management Act and provides low-cost, expeditious, and quasi-judicial determinations. The Board frequently hears cases on density issues, agricultural and rural land use, critical areas, and the siting of essential public facilities.

For more information, contact Rick Olson at 206-587-5060 or rolson@psrc.org.

In other business, the Executive Board: