Blog

The Columbia River Crossing and the House- and Senate-passed transportation budgets

This week, both the House and Senate passed 2013–15 transportation budgets. They are both “bare-bones,” as Sen. Eide said of the Senate version. (In a policy brief last month, we wrote about the importance of funding transportation.) The House-passed budget, ESHB 1864, passed April 16 by a 68-28 vote. 2013–15 spending would total $8.480 billion. […]

Six southern cities in top 10 fastest growing metros – Seattle is No. 15

At his Urbanophile blog, Aaron M. Renn looks at the fastest/slowest growing metros in 2012. The top five are Nashville, Houston, Austin, Salt Lake City, and San Jose (proving that people still know the way). Silicon Valley continues to attract, despite California’s notoriously bleak economic climate. The other cities are in states generally considered business […]

Most western states don't tax by-product fuel

A bill before the state house of representatives (HB 2038) would require petroleum refiners to pay use tax on fuels they use that are by-products of the refining process. Bill supporters claim that Washington is unusual in not taxing such fuels. This is not true. These fuels would be untaxed in 8 of the other […]

Northwest coal ports and American railroad success

The Economist, England’s business-oriented news magazine, features the Northwest’s coal export controversy this week. The relatively short piece offers both sides a chance to state their case. Balance in coverage of this issue can be hard to find. It’s worth a read. An associated story from the previous week should not be missed. It deals […]

Regulations as protectionist policy

Trade is a big deal for Washington, where 40 percent of jobs are trade-related. Often people think of tariffs when they think of trade barriers, but regulations can also be protectionist. A new paper from the Cato Institute looks at this issue. As its authors (K. William Watson and Sallie James) write, The practice of […]

Monthly employment report for Washington: unemployment rate falls to 7.3 percent while the state loses 5,500 jobs

The Employment Security Department’s Monthly Employment Report was released this morning. The preliminary estimate for March puts the state’s unemployment rate at 7.3%, down from 7.5% in February. Despite this unemployment rated drop, the preliminary employment estimate shows that the state lost 5,500 jobs (seasonally adjusted) from February to March. This follows a revised gain […]

New Brief: House Would Tax and Spend Over $1 Billion More than Senate in 2013-15

In a new policy brief, we describe the House-passed 2013-15 operating budget and compare it to the budget passed by the Senate. Overall, the House budget spends more, taxes more, and leaves less in reserves than the Senate. But both make significant appropriations for education.

Washingtonians spend the most in the nation on dental services

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on 2009 health spending numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In Washington, personal health spending per capita was $6,782 in 2009 — 28th highest in the nation, and slightly below the national average of $6,815. That total number is also broken out into categories: Dental […]

Epstein on the long-term consequences of paid sick leave

In a good column today, law professor Richard Epstein writes about paid sick leave mandates: The unintended consequence of paid-sick leave legislation, whether in New York City or elsewhere, will be to block the creation of new jobs by limiting the deals that employers and employees are lawfully allowed to make with each other. . […]

March 11 to April 10 state revenue collections beat forecast by $28.7 million

Budget writers received a bit of good news today in the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s monthly Economic and Revenue Update. For the March 11 to April 10 period, collections were a bit above the amount expected under the forecast adopted on March 20. Key points from the summary: Major General Fund-State revenue collections for […]