Emily Makings

Governor's 2011 Supplemental

We have a new policy brief on Gov. Gregoire’s proposed 2011 supplemental budget.  Although the legislature made deep cuts to the 2009-11 budget during its special session a few weeks ago, they did not completely close the gap.  The governor’s proposal would do so.  It takes into account revised estimates as to the costs to […]

Better Services, Lower Costs!

The third paper in the Thrive Washington series is now available.  The Case for Contracting Out: A Vital Tool to Help Balance Washington’s Budget and Improve Public Services shows how the state could save money by contracting out a variety of services it currently provides. Other states have had success with opening services to competitive […]

Only the Beginning

Today we published a policy brief on the special session that took place on Saturday.  As discussed in the brief, legislators made good headway in addressing the $1.1 billion 2009-11 budget shortfall:  They reduced it by $588 million. The $588 million comes in the form of budget reductions ($490.4 million), fund transfers ($54 million), a […]

More on the Special Session Agreement

The House Democrats have released the full list of reductions in the agreement that legislators and the Governor came to yesterday.  I have added these proposals to my spreadsheet comparing the different ideas; it can be accessed here: Reduction Comparison 12.10.10 The agreement cuts DSHS, Natural Resources and Legislative by less than any of the […]

Pre-Special Session Agreement

The Seattle Times reports that the Governor and the legislature have come to an agreement on a way to cut $790 million in FY2011. It does not eliminate the Basic Health Plan or Disability Lifeline, but it does eliminate non-emergency adult dental (Medicaid).  The Governor’s idea to change the reimbursement method for Federally Qualifying Health […]

Comparison of the Budget Reduction Proposals

I was glad when the House Democratic Caucus released its suggested budget reductions for FY2011 last week that they provided the exact list of cuts by program area. Unfortunately, I have not been able to completely reconcile the lists of possible budget reductions from the Governor, the Senate Republicans and the House Democrats.  That said, […]

Budget Reduction Ideas Galore

The House Democrats have joined Republicans in offering budget reduction options.  For your spreadsheeting pleasure, I have put their full list of reduction ideas into an Excel document, which you can access here: HDC reduction list I am still going through the list, but I already have questions.  The full list compares the reductions to […]

Budget Fun

A post at Politics Northwest this afternoon highlights the Governor’s suggestion that June K-12 payments be delayed until July, as a way to save $240 million in FY2011 (more on the Governor’s proposed reductions here): Educators and staff would still get paid on time. It’s essentially a budget trick that would allow the state to […]

Governor's Reductions

Last week, Governor Gregoire released a list of programs that have been reduced or could be reduced to close the budget shortfall for FY2011.  In addition to across-the-board cuts, fund transfers, and payment delays, the Governor’s proposal would cut education, health, corrections, and other social services funding. As the Governor says in a letter to […]

21st Century Trade Barriers

Earlier this week, Google released a white paper on trade and the Internet: "Enabling Trade in the Era of Information Technologies: Breaking Down Barriers to the Free Flow of Information."  We tend to think of information freedom in human rights terms (or at least I have), but Google makes an interesting case for it being […]