Emily Makings

New Brief: Increasing the 2011-13 Capital Budget

When considering the state budget, we tend to focus on the operating budget. Shifting gears, in a new policy brief, we discuss the 2012 supplemental capital budget. Unlike the operating supplemental, which reduced spending, the capital supplemental (enacted in April) increased spending by over $1 billion. About half of the increase is funded with general […]

New Brief: Balancing the Operating Budget

At the end of the first special session, the legislature passed SSB 6636. Beginning in 2013-15, the legislature will be required to enact operating budgets that are balanced over four years. Right now, the governor must propose a balanced budget, but there is no requirement for the legislature to actually pass one. Additionally, the Economic […]

New Brief: A Small Step for Public Pension Reform

During the budget negotiations, reforms to public employee pensions was a sticking point. In the end, the legislature adopted changes to the assumed rate of return on pension investments and reduced subsidized early retirement for new employees (hired on or after May 1, 2013). Current employees may retire early (before age 65), but their pensions […]

New Brief: Changes to Public School Employee Health Insurance Coverage

During the second special session, the legislature enacted a bill that makes some changes to the purchasing system for K-12 employee health benefits. The current system had been the subject of a February 2011 report by the state auditor, which suggested that the system be streamlined, standardized, and even consolidated. The new bill doesn’t go […]

New Brief: Repealing I-728, Grading Teachers, and Other 2012 Education Reforms

The legislature passed several education reform bills this year, which we consider in this policy brief. Significantly, as part of the budget compromise, legislators finally repealed I-728. By doing so, they helped clear the way for basic education funding needs. They also improved the 2013-15 fiscal situation by removing I-728 from the maintenance level. In […]

New Brief: Legislature Closes the 2011-13 Budget Gap, At Last

Our overview of the 2012 supplemental passed by the legislature last week is here. Future briefs will focus on the reforms that were passed as part of the compromise, and readers should keep in mind that the governor will not act on the budget bill until May 2 (so the numbers are still in flux). […]

Policy Changes in the Supplemental Budget

Earlier today, Dick wrote about the newly-enacted supplemental budget. Policy level reductions in the bill total $295 million–smaller than all previous proposals except the one the House passed March 8, which would have reduced policy level spending by $293 million (after adjusting to remove the effect of the school apportionment shift). The enacted bill reduces […]

Housekeeping Note: New RSS Feeds

We have added new ways to access our work. In addition to this blog, Twitter, and Facebook, you may now subscribe to several RSS feeds. You may subscribe, for example, to all of our publications, or you may pick only the topics that interest you. We also have feeds for columns written by our president, […]

New House Supplemental Proposal

The latest supplemental proposal is a striking amendment from Rep. Hunter.  There’s a lot more of the same (this is the fifth different supplemental proposal): fund transfers, new revenue, spending reductions. In the two supplementals the House has already passed (2/29 and 3/8), a one-day delay in school apportionment payments was included, as a way […]

Budgets & Accounting

In a post at the New York Times' Economix blog, Bruce Bartlett discusses a recent staff discussion note from the International Monetary Fund: "Accounting Devices and Fiscal Illusions."  It is about the budget tricks or gimmicks or stratagems that governments use to get around cutting spending or raising taxes.  Or, as the discussion note puts […]