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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

State revenues up slightly: $30 million more for 2013-15; an additional $82 million in 2015-17

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council has released its quarterly revenue forecast. The headline on the press release says it well: Revenue forecast reflects minimal changes to economic forecast This is pretty much what everyone expected. As Kriss wrote earlier this month when the ERFC released its collection report, There is little in this collections report to […]

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 […]

Lawsuits pending in 11 states over adequacy of education funding

Washington is not alone in facing court troubles over school funding. Stateline.org reports today on just how frequently litigation and education funding have become entwined. Across the country, litigation is pending against 11 states over inadequate or inequitable school funding. That is nothing new: Over the years, all but five states have been the subjects […]

Transportation plan released in Senate today – next steps uncertain

Senate Transportation Committee co-chair Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, today released a $12.4 billion transportation plan. Video coverage of the press conference here. King writes in his cover letter to the governor and legislative transportation leaders that he wants to “restart negotiations,” a theme echoed at the press conference by Majority Leader Rodney Tom and others. As […]

Raising the minimum wage would increase state costs. Who knew?

It looks like HB 2672, the bill that would raise the statewide minimum wage, won’t come to a vote on the House floor. Or maybe it will. As Publicola reports, Rep. Jessyn Farrell’s (D-46, N. Seattle) bill to boost the state minimum wage from $9.32 to $12 by 2017 failed to come up for a […]

Washington House committee votes to make it harder to outsource

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee passed (14-13) HB 2473, a labor-initiated bill that would make it more difficult for state agencies to outsource work. From the bill report, here’s a bit of what it requires: Requires agencies to prepare a written record of the basis of the decision and a comprehensive impact assessment when contracting out […]