Emily Makings

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 […]

Govistics on Taxes in Gold Bar

Our friends at the Center for Governmental Research in New York have a very handy product that helps users find and compare public finance data for U.S. states, counties, towns, school districts, etc: Govistics. In a blog post today, they link to a story about Gold Bar's decision to ask voters to agree to a […]

The Economist on Charter Schools

Next week’s Economist magazine has an article on charter schools. The article is published online just before signatures are due for the public charter school initiative in Washington (I-1240). Dick has written on the initiative and charter schools here, here, and here. As Dick mentioned, state Rep. Eric Pettigrew has said, Forty-one other states have […]

Some Thoughts on the Health Care Reform Ruling

As everyone is well aware of by now, the Supreme Court ruled this morning on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Court upheld the law, including the individual mandate–but under the taxing power, not the Commerce Clause. Additionally, the Court decided that states are not required to take part in […]