Two Spokane lawmakers submitted bill’s Wednesday to change a century old state law regarding medical schools.
Republican Senator Michael Baumgartner and Democratic Representative Marcus Riccelli introduced the bills to help Washington State University create its own medical school. The bills would amend a 1917 state law that allows only University of Washington to operate a medical school, and caps the amount of students at 120.
Riccelli’s measure has 60 co-sponsors from the House, which makes a supermajority.
Riccelli: “Because this is a community based model. So the folks that WSU will train will be going out into these communities all across the state… And the goal then is that, when folks go to medical school and do their residencies in the same place 67% of them stay in those communities.”
He says the bill would help fix a shortage of doctors statewide. Baumgartner’s Senate bill has 17 co-sponsors.
The University of Washington also wants to expand its east-side medical offerings, and announced Wednesday it has a leadership team in Spokane developing plans and curriculum.
Copyright 2015 Spokane Public Radio
