Emily Makings

New Brief: More Reforms for Workers' Compensation

On February 4, the state Senate passed three workers’ comp bills. In a new brief today, we take a look at those bills and discuss why reforms are needed, even after the changes made in 2011.

President's proposal would increase federal minimum wage, nearly to Washington's level

In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama proposed increasing the federal minimum wage to $9.00 by the end of 2015 and indexing it to inflation. (It is currently $7.25.) Twenty-two states currently match the federal minimum wage, 19 states and DC have minimum wages above the federal requirement, four have minimum […]

Paid sick leave in Washington, and a new study on Connecticut's law

The House Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held a hearing this morning on HB 1313, which would require Washington employers to provide paid sick and safe leave to their employees. The bill is very similar to Seattle’s paid sick and safe time ordinance, which has been in effect since September 1, 2012. We wrote […]

New Brief: Leveling the Playing Field with Tax Preferences

Many business tax preferences serve to normalize Washington’s tax structure by reducing distortions, offsetting disincentives, and avoiding pyramiding. This is important from the standpoint of good tax policy, as we outline in a new policy brief. We also discuss the high tech R&D tax credits in particular.

More reforms for workers' compensation

Washington’s workers’ compensation benefits paid are the highest in the country, as we’ve documented here and here. And, as the National Academy of Social Insurance says, “several studies . . . demonstrate that the level of statutory benefits is a major determinant of the costs of workers’ compensation in a state.” In 2011, the legislature […]

Public libraries caught up in education funding lawsuit in West Virginia

As I wrote here, several states are facing education funding lawsuits. Apparently West Virginia is too, with a bit of a twist: In a special act, the legislature required nine counties in the state, including Kanawha, to use a potion of their state education funding to provide for public libraries. Public libraries in the 46 […]

WA union membership, 2012

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released 2012 data on unionization in the U.S. (Dick wrote about it here.) In 2012, the total union membership rate in the U.S. was 11.3 percent, the public-sector union membership rate was 35.9 percent, and the private-sector union membership rate was 6.6 percent. Washington’s total union membership rate […]

Lawsuits and education finance policy

An article in Education Week calls attention to education funding lawsuits that are pending in several states, complicating policymaking: As state budgets slowly recover from several years of economic contraction and stagnation, significant court battles continue to play a related yet distinct role in K-12 policy, even in states where the highest courts have already […]

New Brief: Comparative Analysis of School Funding

In a new special report, we look at school funding in Washington — level of funding, sources of funding, and how that funding compares to other states. As it turns out, Washington’s schools are funded heavily from state sources: Washington ranks 11th nationally in state revenues per student, but it ranks 40th in revenues from […]

Potential changes for workers' comp voluntary settlements

In a Seattle Times op-ed over the weekend, two state representatives, Christopher Hurst and Cathy Dahlquist, call for more changes to workers’ compensation. Some reforms to the system were enacted in 2011 (we wrote about them here), and some savings have been realized. As Reps. Hurst and Dahlquist note, The single largest projected saving from […]