Emily Makings

Charter Schools: Flexibility, Variety, Accountability

This week Partnership for Learning, along with UW’s Center on Reinventing Public Education, released “Examining Charters: How public charter schools can work in Washington state.” The report should be useful for voters as they decide whether to approve Initiative 1240, which would allow a limited number of public charter schools in Washington. (Our policy brief […]

In Washington, 40 Percent of Jobs are Trade-Related

Earlier this week, the Washington Council on International Trade (WCIT) and the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle (TDA) released “An International Competitiveness Strategy for Washington State.” The really interesting part of the strategy is its update of the “one in three jobs in Washington are trade-related” statistic (which dates to 1999). Now, according to […]

New Brief: Initiative 1240: Improving Education Options with Charter Schools

Initiative 1240, if approved by voters, would allow 40 public charter schools over five years. Charter schools are noncontroversial nationally (41 states allow them), and they would provide parents and students in Washington an additional public school option. Our policy brief on I-1240 is available here.

New Brief: Initiative 1185: Reaffirming a Supermajority Requirement for Tax Increases

We have a new policy brief today on I-1185, which would again require a two-thirds legislative supermajority for tax increases. The requirement was last approved in 2010. Because it has been two years since then, the legislature could amend, repeal, or suspend the requirement — unless I-1185 is approved by voters. Our brief looks at […]

Washington's Minimum Wage Rising

The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) announced today that Washington's minimum wage will increase to $9.19 in 2013. For 2012, Washington's state minimum wage is the highest in the country at $9.04. (The cities of Santa Fe and San Francisco have higher municipal minimum wages.)The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25. In 2012, the […]

State Auditor on Regulatory Reform

The state auditor's office has been working on a performance audit of Washington's regulatory system. Last September, the auditor created an inventory of regulations in the state, by agency. Yesterday, the auditor released "Regulatory Reform: Communicating Regulatory Information and Streamlining Business Rules." The audit asks if "state government websites effectively provide regulatory information to businesses" […]

The NFL and Workers' Comp

Workers’ compensation is a hot topic for us, and so it is for the National Football League. In honor of football season, let’s turn it over to an article by Darren Rovell on ESPN.com today: National Football League teams are facing a significant threat to their finances because of a legal option available to nearly […]

Pension Odds and Ends

First, I found this post, from Kil Huh of the Pew Center on the States (via Walter Russell Mead), to be interesting. Huh’s “five truths about public employee pensions” are: Public pension funds face real funding challenges in a majority of states. The funding gaps have real impacts on taxpayers and states’ budgets. Policy makers […]

No Free Lunch: WA's Workers' Comp Benefits Still the Highest in the Nation in 2010

Earlier this month, the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) released its annual report, Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs. The report has a two-year lag, so the data is from 2010. It shows that in 2010, Washington’s workers’ compensation benefits per covered worker were still the highest in the nation, at $865.67. Alaska was […]

More from the State Budget Crisis Task Force Report

On Tuesday, Dick linked to the State Budget Crisis Task Force report. As he noted, the report shows how states face structural budget problems that were only exacerbated by the recession. The report’s “major threats to fiscal sustainability” include Medicaid, underfunded pension promises, and state budget practices — topics that we’ve written about often. Although […]