Emily Makings

Local government pension and retiree health care funding shortfalls

According to the Pew Center on the States this week, in 2009, pension liabilities of 61 major cities in the U.S. were $385 billion, of which $286 billion was funded. Additionally, these cities had retiree health care liabilities of $126 billion, of which only $8 billion was funded. In total dollars, the 61 cities had […]

Options for basic education spending

In a blog post yesterday, state Rep. Ross Hunter provides a good overview of the education funding problem in Washington. He notes the report of the Joint Task Force on Education Funding (JTFEF), which was released December 31, 2012. Created by House Bill 2824 last year, the task force was charged with “developing a proposal […]

The Effectiveness of Higher School Spending and Class Size Reductions

One of the main issues to be tackled this legislative session is education funding. Gov. Gregoire’s 2013-15 budget proposal calls for a “$1 billion down payment on the $3.4 billion in new K-12 spending the state has committed to over the next six years.” Additionally, the budget proposal would reduce K-2 class sizes in high […]

New Brief: Governor Gregoire's 2013-15 Budget Proposal

In December, Gov. Gregoire released her budget proposal for the upcoming biennium. We detail her proposed spending and revenue changes in a new policy brief. Overall, the proposal would increase spending by $2.8 billion over 2011-13. New and extended tax options in the plan total over $1 billion.

Thanks to Gov. Gregoire and Budget Staff

I've only just started going through Governor Gregoire's 2013-15 budget proposal, but I'd like to thank her and her budget staff for finally showing the balance sheet in terms of near general fund-state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+). In the past, the governor's proposals have been in terms of the general fund-state, while legislative fiscal committee […]

A Few More Items on Health Care

Here is a map showing what states have decided to do about setting up health care exchanges, as of today. Nineteen states will set up their own exchanges, seven will partner with the federal government to set up exchanges, and 25 will leave it to the federal government entirely. On Monday, the Department of Health […]

The Costs of Medicaid Expansion for Washington

The Kaiser Family Foundation released “The Cost and Coverage Implications of the ACA Medicaid Expansion: National and State-by-State Analysis” in November. (Dick mentioned it in a post earlier this week.) Thanks to the June Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, states may choose not to implement the law’s Medicaid expansion. (There had been […]

Unemployment Insurance and Workers' Compensation Rates for 2013

Today the Employment Security Department (ESD) announced that unemployment insurance rates will either stay the same or be reduced for most employers in Washington for 2013. In 2013, 14 percent of employers will move into lower rate classes, 61 percent won’t change, and 25 percent will move into higher rate classes. More than one-third of […]

Maps of Unemployment Benefits Maximum Duration Since 2008

In 2008, the federal government enacted temporary emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) for people who run out of their regular state unemployment benefits. The program expires at the end of the year. Washington workers are eligible for 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits, and under the EUC program, they may currently be eligible for 37 additional […]

Can WA Eliminate Public Pension COLAs?

In 2011, the legislature eliminated future automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System Plan 1 (PERS 1) and the Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 1 (TRS 1). As we wrote in an April 2011 policy brief, In 1995, the legislature passed a bill providing retirees in PERS 1 and TRS 1 […]