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$7 billion transportation investment would generate $42 billion economic benefit: Washington Roundtable and Boston Consulting Group

The Washington Roundtable and The Boston Consulting Group today released a new report documenting the economic benefits that would flow from a $7 billion transportation investment. A $7 billion investment to preserve and maintain state road and bridge networks and improve key economic corridors would generate $42 billion in benefits and increase state and local […]

With ballots arriving, here's our take on I-1351

Ballots are in the mail or already delivered, so I thought I would re-post the link to our policy brief on one of this year’s initiatives: Initiative 1351 Class Size Reduction: A $4.7 Billion Unfunded Mandate with Dubious Educational Merit. It may also be helpful for voters to consider I-1351 in the broader budget context. […]

Harvard Business School on "An Economy Doing Half Its Job" and the Need to Improve Education, Workforce Skills and Transportation

My column today used a Harvard Business School competitiveness report as its launching point. It points out a signal danger to our economic future. The report, “An Economy Doing Half Its Job,” is based on a survey of Harvard business graduates and the school’s own academic research. The research team writes that the nation is […]

Links: King County "living wage," WA cell phone taxes, and Microsoft predictions

1. Earlier this week the King County Council adopted a “living wage” for county employees and county contractors. The new requirement will be phased in to reach $15 in 2017. The Seattle Times notes that it “applies only to people working directly or indirectly for taxpayers, partly because the county has limited authority over how […]

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 […]

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 […]

Facility permitting and rail investment news

There have been several developments in the oil and coal port world over the past week: A new economic analysis of the proposed Tesoro Savage crude oil loading facility at the Port of Vancouver (Wash.) found that it “could generate an estimated $2 billion in ‘economic value’ to the local and regional economy, and 176 […]

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 […]