Kriss Sjoblom

Outlook for 2013-15 Under March 8 House Supplemental Budget

I have put together a rough “outlook” for the 2013–15 biennium based on the supplemental budget passed by the House on March 8. I also have refined the outlooks that I posted four days ago based the supplemental budgets passed on February 29 by the House and on March 3 by the Senate. These projections […]

Balance Sheet Comparison of Most Recent House-Passed Budget to Earlier House- and Senate-Passed Versions

Here is a balance sheet comparison of the budget passed by the House yesterday (March 8) to those passed by the House on February 29 and the Senate on March 3:

The Outlook for 2013-15 Under the House and Senate Supplemental Budgets

I have put together rough “outlooks” for the 2013–15 biennium based on the supplemental budgets passed by the House and the Senate. These projections follow closely that prepared by the Office of Financial Management of Gov. Gregoire’s November supplemental proposal, with adjustments for the specifics of the House and Senate budgets. The one deviation I […]

ESD Reports Washington Added 13,200 jobs In January: This Number Is Likely To Be Revised Downward

The Employment Security Department reported today that the state added an unbelievably large 13,200 jobs in January. The models used to estimate jobs are subject to a significant amount of error, especially for the initial estimate. The magnitude for potential error is documented by the revisions made to the estimates for December employment and for […]

Balance Sheet for the House Ways and Means Committee Supplemental Budget

Here is a balance sheet for House Ways and Means Committee passed supplemental budget:

House Ways and Means Committee Passes Supplemental Budget

On Saturday the House Ways and Means Committee reported out, with amendments its Chair’s proposed supplemental budget. (Here is our brief on the Chair’s Proposal.) The amendments increased spending by $64.4 million (General Fund-State, Education Legacy Trust and Opportunity Pathways Accounts combined [NGFS+]) from total in the Chair’s proposed budget and reduced the projected ending […]

Charts comparing Hunter and Gregoire supplemental budgets

I have prepared two pie charts that allow a comparison of Rep. Hunter’s supplemental budget proposal to the “Book 1” supplemental budget that Gov. Gregoire released in November. By the governor’s reckoning at that point in time, the state faced a shortfall of nearly $2 billion in the general fund–state budget for the remainder of […]

Revision to state revenue forecast adds $95.7 million for 2011-13 biennium

The headline number for today's revision to the state general fund revenue forecast is a gain of $95.7 million, taking expected revenues for the 2011-13 biennium to $30.284 billion. However, $50.6 million of the $95.7 gain is due to actions taken in the December 2011 special session of the legislature allowing unclaimed property seized by […]

State's monthly Economic and Revenue Update contains a bit of good news

The state Forecast Council’s monthly Economic and Revenue Update (available here), which was released this afternoon, contains a bit of good news on revenue collections over the last month. Here is the summary: The preliminary February forecast for the U.S. economy is similar to the November forecast, with continued concerns about downside risks. Washington’s economy […]

Machinery & Equipment Exemption Key to Keeping Jobs, Investments in Washington

Manufacturing continues to be a strength of Washington’s economy. We have published a Policy Brief on the machinery and equipment exemption, which contributes to that strength by encouraging the capital investments that anchor manufacturing here.