Can WA Eliminate Public Pension COLAs?
In 2011, the legislature eliminated future automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System Plan 1 (PERS 1) and the Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 1 (TRS 1). As we wrote in an April 2011 policy brief, In 1995, the legislature passed a bill providing retirees in PERS 1 and TRS 1 […]
November 19 , 2012 - Richard S. Davis
Flat revenue forecast, 4-year budget outlook remains grim
The official state revenue forecast released today is little changed from the September report. Overall changes to the revenue forecast are slight. Forecasted revenue for the current biennium has been increased by $8 million, with a $31 million positive variance in collections since the September forecast partially offset by a weaker forecast going forward. Forecasted […]
November 19 , 2012 - Richard S. Davis
From fiscal cliff to affordable care act, plenty of post-election unfinished business
Remember when elections settled things? OK, I don’t either. But there’s more than the usual clutter of unresolved issues on the agenda this year. The Los Angeles Times has a nice roundup of the states of health care, as more Republican governors opt not to set up the state exchanges prescribed by the Affordable Care […]
October 31 , 2012 - Emily Makings
Study: Fully funding public pensions in Washington would require $1,371 per household per year
As Josh Barro wrote this summer, Pensions are complicated, and when they are not causing huge problems, they are boring . . . . Consequently, it has been easy for lawmakers to ignore the long-term risks to which they have been exposing taxpayers; it has not been hard for public-employee unions to talk these lawmakers […]
October 12 , 2012 - Kriss Sjoblom
Sept. 11 to Oct. 10 state revenue collections beat forecast by $36.6 million
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council released the monthly Economic and Revenue Update today. General fund-state revenue collections for the September 11 to October 10 period beat the forecast by $36.6 million. However, Forecast Council staff believe that much of this “positive variance” is due to timing of payments and will offset by below-forecast collections […]
September 19 , 2012 - Richard S. Davis
September revenue forecast unchanged
Today’s revenue forecast remains essentially unchanged. From the press release: In the three months since the June forecast, U.S. economic activity has generally been in line with the baseline scenario. We continue to see slow growth, high unemployment and weak confidence. Despite the relatively small changes in the economic forecast, the level of downside uncertainty […]
September 19 , 2012 - Richard S. Davis
Regulatory reform – a long way to go
Emily wrote previously about the performance audit of state regulatory reform efforts. In my column today I take a closer look at the findings. Despite good intentions and serious efforts, the desired results have not materialized. The rising tide of regulation rolls in as state officials, like Canute, ineffectually order the sea to recede. We […]
September 11 , 2012 - Kriss Sjoblom
August 11 to September 10 general fund-state revenue collections were $1.1 million less than anticipated
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued its monthly Economic and Revenue Update today. For the August 11 to September period, general fund-state collections were a scant $1.1 million less than anticipated in the most recent official forecast, which was issued in June. For the last three months combined, revenues exceeded the forecast by $20.1 […]
August 20 , 2012 - Richard S. Davis
Discovering interactive tax calculators at National Taxpayers Conference
Just finished hearing a great presentation by Nick Kasprak, programmer and analyst at the Tax Foundation. he was leadoff speaker at the NTC conference, held this year in Washington, D.C. He showed us a number of user-friendly and useful tools to help understand state and local tax policies: net migration, performance against state expenditure limits, […]
August 14 , 2012 - Richard S. Davis
WA and CA only states showing negative FY12 balance in NCSL budget update
While it’s not necessarily cause for alarm, the negative balances reported in the 2012 state budget update isn’t the happy news one hopes for in these things. As the National Conference of State Legislature’s notes: In Washington, FY 2012 marks the midpoint of the biennium; the shortfall will be eliminated over the remainder of the […]