Richard S. Davis

Does CBO underestimate job losses caused by minimum wage increase? Former Labor Dept. chief economist thinks so.

People – and by people I mean pundits and economists – can’t seem to quit talking about the CBO minimum wage report. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor, has one of the tougher takes on the analysis. In Market Watch, she suggests that CBO seriously underestimates the job losses that […]

Senate Democrats propose $100 million in new taxes for education, teacher COLAs

This morning Democrats in the state Senate laid out a plan to put another $100 million into the state budget for education, including cost-of-living adjustments for teachers. (Here’s the press release.) The new taxes, which they characterize as “closing unproductive loopholes,” are recycled from past efforts to boost revenues: applying the sales tax to bottled […]

Bipartisan supplemental budget proposal from state Senate adds $96 million, no tax hikes

Senate Ways and Means chairman Andy Hill, R-Redmond, just concluded a press conference unveiling his proposed 2014 supplemental operating budget. To underscore the bipartisan nature of the process, he was joined by the Democrats’ lead budget writer Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam and other Republicans and Democrats involved in developing the proposal. Although Hill had previously said […]

Gubernatorial reactions to Chief Executive magazine's annual "Best & Worst States for Business" Report, including #36 Washington

In what looks a lot like a way to spark interest in the spring release of its annual ranking of state business climates based on CEO perceptions, Chief Executive magazine just published a list of how governors responded to the 2013 rankings. Here’s how the magazine conducts its ranking. Business leaders were asked to grade […]

A must-read column examines the $15 minimum wage from the perspective of a small restaurant owner who opposes it

Danny Westneat’s column in Sunday’s Seattle Times should be required reading for anyone concerned about the impact of a $15 minimum wage on Seattle businesses. I can’t do it justice in this post and encourage you to click through and read it now. He frames the column around restaurant owner John Platt, whom he describes […]

After Friday's White House meeting, Inslee muses about raising the minimum wage for state workers

The Seattle Times reported Friday that Gov. Inslee is considering an increase in the minimum wage paid state employees and contractors.  His comments came after he and other Democratic governor’s met with the president at the White House. As Brad Shannon writes in The News Tribune, it won’t be happening any time soon. “It’s going […]

Confirming what you knew, the minimum wage campaign is all about politics

Union leaders meeting in Houston reiterated the importance of the minimum wage to their 2014 political strategy. (The politics of the issue were explained last December in the New York Times.) Gathered for their annual winter meeting, the nation’s labor leaders say that what they see as the best theme for reviving the union movement […]

Teacher evaluation bill goes down, putting $44 million of school funding at risk

In a session when there’s been a lot of talk about education funding, what with the McCleary decision and an impatient state Supreme Court, a sensible tweak in how the state uses teacher evaluations should have been easy. The Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy (WashACE) makes clear what’s at stake. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats […]

Rhode Island pension settlement seen as setback for reformers, raises questions that resonate here

The state of Rhode Island has reached an agreement with public employee unions that had filed six lawsuits challenging pension reforms adopted by the state. The Providence Journal points out that the deal comes with costs: Details were still emerging on the Friday afternoon of Valentine’s Day,  but it appears the proposed deal would increase […]

From SeaTac to Chattanooga, tracing the links between the minimum wage and union organizing in the South

Small elections have big consequences. We know that in Washington. Consider the SeaTac Prop. 1 vote for a $15 minimum wage (and a host of other labor-protection measures) and  the Boeing Machinists vote that secured the Boeing 777X work here. A similarly consequential vote took place at the Volkswagon plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last week. […]