Blog

Seattle life sciences cluster ranks tenth in the nation

Seattle Times business columnist Jon Talton reports on the continued strength of Seattle’s bio sciences cluster this morning. Well, I put that a bit more strongly than he did. Seattle was fortunate to have an established cluster, which was ranked No.  5 nationally in an influential 2004 report by the Milken Institute. How are we doing now? […]

Public pensions and investment returns

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee held a hearing on HB 1899, which would allow first class cities to enter into agreements with the State Investment Board (SIB) allowing the SIB to “assume the duties of investing the retirement funds of the first class cities’ retirement systems.” The only first class cities with their own […]

Sequester showdown stymies state budget writers, weakens recovery

It looks like the sun will rise Friday morning (that’s good, but not surprising, news) without Congressional action to avoid the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration(that’s bad news, but probably not as bad as the worst case scenarios we’ve heard). The axe doesn’t fall decisively March 1 and the various scheduled reductions have a […]

New poll shows teachers and voters agree on need for performance data and better education outcomes

A new poll commissioned by Excellent Schools Now, an education reform coalition, shows strong support by voters and teachers for better performance data, as well as agreement that the U.S. education system is not producing college- and career-ready students. Key poll results are here.   The group polled 500 voters and 500 teachers in late […]

Oregon study on workers' comp — Washington jumps in the rankings

Today the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services released the full 2012 Workers’ Compensation Premium Rate Ranking Study. (A summary was released in October.) The study is done every two years and ranks Oregon’s workers’ comp premium rates against those in other states. We have described the problems with using the Oregon study as […]

Workers' comp, cumulative trauma, and pro sports

Over the weekend, there was an article in the LA Times about athletes and workers’ compensation in California. (I wrote about this issue in August.) All states allow professional athletes to claim workers’ compensation payments for specific job-related injuries — such as a busted knee, torn tendon or ruptured spinal disc — that happened within […]

Association health plans are a solution, not a problem

A half million Washingtonians currently get high quality, affordable health insurance through association health plans. As AWB president Don Brunell points out in the Columbian, Washington’s plans grew out of the health care reform debates in the early 1990s. Today, these plans allow small businesses to offer comprehensive insurance to their employees. Yet, despite their […]

Business costs, regulation and economic growth

Joel Kotkin has an excellent op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal reviewing the nation’s “four growth corridors.” Sadly, unsurprisingly, the Pacific Northwest is not among them. …trends point to a U.S. economic future dominated by four growth corridors that are generally less dense, more affordable, and markedly more conservative and pro-business: the Great Plains, the […]

Should state pension reforms include shift to 401k-type plans?

Sen. Rodney Tom has introduced a bill that would shift new hires and younger workers to a defined contribution pension system, similar to the 401k plans common in the private sector. Here’s how the bill report summarizes it: The Washington Public Employees Savings Plan (PESP) is created as a new defined-contribution plan to replace PERS, […]

State budget worry mounts as federal sequestration deadline approaches

Even arbitrary, manufactured  and gimmicky fiscal crises have consequences. So it is with the federal sequestration – $85 billion in spending cuts – scheduled to hit at the end of the week. As the New York Times reported over the weekend, The point of sequestration, in fact, was to define cuts that were so arbitrary […]