Richard S. Davis

Class size Initiative 1351: Threat to safety net and higher education, yet no organized opposition

Seattle Times columnist and editorial board member Erik Smith writes that despite its $4.7 billion price tag with no funding attached, Initiative 1351 seems to be sliding to the November ballot with no significant opposition. This is all the more surprising because, as Smith points out, when informed arguments are presented, even those most predisposed to […]

Davis column on contempt ruling: "Court finesses crisis it created"

In my column today, I examine the state Supreme Court’s decision to find the state in contempt. We blogged about the decision here. The court chose to give lawmakers one more chance before imposing “sanctions and remedies.” It was the smart, face-saving move given the circumstances. But the court never should have forced the issue. Having […]

State Supreme Court finds Legislature in contempt, defers sanctions

Yesterday’s big news was the state Supreme Court order finding the state in contempt for failing to respond adequately to the court’s McCleary decision, calling for a rapid ramp-up in state funding of basic education. (Like everyone, we’ve written a lot about this, good background here.) The judicial rebuke was expected. The question was how […]

Why repealing tax incentives will not be the answer to the school funding problem

Attacking “tax loopholes” is nothing new in Washington budget debates. It’s the perennial tax policy panacea, the painless way to raise a lot of money without imposing a general tax hike. Everybody talks about it, but rarely do the efforts gain much traction.  There’s a good reason for that. There’s no there there. Yesterday, in a […]

Davis column on Rutgers research finding Americans "unhappy, worried, and pessimistic"

In a column I examine recent survey research from Rutgers University. The research, “Unhappy, Worried, and Pessimistic: Americans in the Aftermath of the Great Recession,” paints a bleak, if not unrealistic, view of American public opinion five years into the alleged economic recovery. From the column: Report co-author Carl Van Horn says, “The slow, uneven, […]

Former Govs. Spellman and Gregoire Urge Supreme Court to Exercise Restraint, Caution

In today’s Seattle Times, John Spellman and Chris Gregoire offer timely counsel to the state Supreme Court ahead of tomorrow’s hearing addressing whether the court should hold the Legislature in contempt for failing to make adequate progress on education funding. Republican Spellman served as governor from 1981-1985; Gregoire served from 2005-2013. The pair note that […]

Washington exports college students – a trade deficit that we cannot afford

The Seattle Times reports that Washington sends more students out of state for a college education than come here to attend school.  [Bjong “Wolf” Yeigh, chancellor of the University of Washington Bothell,] was analyzing the data this year and was surprised to learn that Washington experiences the opposite effect. In fact, it’s one of only 11 states with a net loss of first-time college […]

Catching Up: Youth unemployment and pension policy

I discovered I’d forgotten to post this column from a couple of weeks ago that examines youth unemployment. In the last decade, the share of employed youth has fallen dramatically and it continues to drop. Nationally, the youth unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 19 years old is about 22 percent. In Washington, that number […]

Seattle Times columnist writes about that mythical $8.7 billion tax break for Boeing: not a giveaway!

Erik Smith used our recent policy brief as a peg for an excellent column on tax policy in today’s Seattle Times. Though the Department of Revenue calculated it exactly as it was supposed to, a more realistic view is that the legislation costs taxpayers nothing. He summarizes, drawing on points we developed in the brief. […]

States should preempt the ability of cities to set their own minimum wage

Blue metros – like Seattle, San Francisco, and NYC – are the new darlings of the progressive left. That’s the theme of my column today. The wave has been building for more than a decade. But elections of liberal mayors like Ed Murray in Seattle and Bill De Blasio in New York City give it […]