Blog

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 […]

WA Health Benefit Exchange wants $59 million for 2015 — will that pencil out?

Last week the Washington Health Benefit Exchange board approved a $59.2 million budget for 2015. Legislators have only authorized up to $40 million for the exchange. The Seattle Times reports, A consultant’s report estimated the exchange would enroll about 85,000 new individuals in private health plans through the exchange for 2015 coverage, for a total of […]

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 […]

Regarding McCleary, does the Legislature need its mind concentrated?

As Dick noted, in June, the state Supreme Court ordered the state to address why it should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with an earlier court order to submit “a complete plan for fully implementing its program of basic education for each school year between now and the 2017-18 school year.” […]

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 […]

Spokesman-Review on the 2015-17 budget challenges

Over the weekend, the Spokesman-Review editorialized that the state’s fiscal choices are “far from easy.” Recent analyses by the Washington Office of Financial Management and Washington Research Council underscore the challenges ahead for what almost certainly will be a Legislature divided into a Republican Senate and Democratic House. Our preview of the 2015-17 state budget is […]

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 […]

How will the WA Health Benefit Exchange fare in the 2015-17 state budget?

According to a Seattle Times blog post, an Urban Institute report recently found that Washington’s Healthplanfinder is only “moderately effective” on transparency. Additionally, “At its last meeting, the board of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange considered several transparency tools suggested by the Healthy Washington Coalition, comprising more than a dozen advocacy organizations and unions.” These […]

New Brief: 2015–17 Budget Preview: McCleary Not the Only Cloud on the Budget Horizon

In a new policy brief, we preview the upcoming 2015–17 state budget. It is based on a budget outlook presentation from the Office of Financial Management. The upshot is that even before considering new education funding under the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision, legislators face a significant budget challenge. If voters approve Initiative 1351 (which […]

State budget is the winner in public pension cases, as WA Supreme Court holds that gain sharing and UCOLAs may be repealed

This morning, reversing lower court rulings, the state Supreme Court held that the Legislature was within its rights to repeal the uniform cost-of-living adjustment (UCOLA) and gain-sharing programs for public employees. By doing so, the court has finally given budget writers some good news: The state actuary had estimated that if the UCOLA and gain […]