Blog

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 […]

August revenue collections report shows taxes track with forecast

Today’s revenue collections report, though possibly foreshadowing a softening, shows receipts continuing to track the June forecast. The press release has the yin and yang. It’s a good news/bad news thing. Major General Fund-State (GF-S) revenue collections were $45.0 million (3.8%) lower than the June forecast, but cumulative receipts for the last two months are […]

So the best news is that we're not likely to fall into a double-dip recession

University of Michigan economist Mark Perry examined five economic reports yesterday and suggests they tell us that, though growth remains dismal, the U.S. economy was not sliding into recession. He asks the provocative question: All five indicators accurately signaled the last recession in 2007-2009, so they can’t all be wrong this time, can they? Take […]

Medicaid expansion will add to state budget stress

In my column this morning I look at the costs of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Earlier, Emily and I have reported on the findings of the State Budget Crisis Task Force (here and here). Medicaid costs are one of the six major budget threats identified by the group and the one most […]

WA business taxes are 5.5 percent of private GSP; 14th highest in nation

The Council on State Taxation today released its new report on state and local business taxes. We watch for the annual updates of this comprehensive report, conducted for COST by Ernst and Young. While there’s a lot of good information in the report, we turn to Table 4, which reports state and local business taxes […]

Governors, economists tally the costs of Medicaid expansion under ACA

The New York Times reports today that the nation’s governors, meeting in Williamsburg, VA, are taking a cautious approach to the Medicaid expansion baked into the Affordable Care Act, but rendered voluntary by the U.S. Supreme Court. The initial reaction to the court’s ruling split along party lines. More than half a dozen Republican governors […]

New business climate ranking out: CNBC places Washington No. 21

Washington finishes the “best business climate” race in 21st place, according to a new report by CNBC. Texas comes in first, followed by Utah and Virginia. The full rankings are here. Our state does relatively well on the CNBC metrics for access to capital (3) and technology and innovation (5). We do not do so […]

WWU collective bargaining agreement and 16 percent tuition hike

Gov. Gregoire recently wrote Western Washington University president Bruce Shephard expressing grave concern with the school’s faculty collective bargaining agreement. Here’s the Seattle Times’ summary and context: …the governor criticized the university’s decision to raise salaries 5.25 percent this school year and 4.25 percent each of the following two years in addition to boosting department-chair […]

Monthly state revenue collections beat forecast by $66.5 million

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s monthly Economic & Revenue Update is out today, and the results were quite good for a change. For the June 11 to July 10 month, general fund–state revenue collections were $66.5 million greater than the forecast, which was revised just 3 weeks ago. The economic outlook remains clouded, however, […]

Merle Hazard's take on the fiscal cliff…

Here’s a much more accessible take on the fiscal cliff, the topic of this post earlier today. h/t Calculated Risk.