Blog

House leadership should allow vote on needed workers' comp reform

In my column today, I call on Democratic leaders in the House to bring to the floor legislation that would allow voluntary settlement agreements for workers’ compensation claims. This is not a new theme. An excellent editorial in the Herald of Everett urged the bipartisan majorities in both houses of the Legislature to hold firm […]

Update on Higher Education Tuition

Last week, we posted a policy brief comparing the House and Senate budgets’ treatments of higher education. Both budgets propose significant tuition hikes on state-resident undergraduate students, with the increases in the Senate budget somewhat greater than those in the House budget (11–16 percent vs. 11–13 percent). These proposals are now irrelevant, however. Early this […]

The Costliness of Washington's Workers' Compensation System

As the debate over workers’ compensation reform continues, a questionable number keeps popping up related to the costs of Washington’s system compared to other states. As we have consistently argued (see here, here, and here), the workers’ compensation system in Washington must be reformed.  Washington has the nation’s second highest benefits per covered worker ($778.36 […]

State Agency Consolidations Under Consideration

Before the legislative session began this year, Governor Gregoire made several suggestions to reorganize and consolidate state agencies.  She recommended that the state consolidate education agencies, natural resource agencies and central services; centralize IT by creating the Consolidated Technology Services agency; create an Office of Civil Rights; eliminate 36 boards and commissions; and consolidate the […]

NLRB's Boeing complaint generating plenty of heat

The NLRB’s Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon lodged a complaint alleging the Boeing company’s decision to expand in South Carolina amounted to impermissible retaliation against the union. I wrote about it in this column. Unsurprisingly, the complaint has become a national issue, properly, because of its sweeping consequences. In the Wall Street Journal, Boeing CEO […]

May Report on State Tax Collections

Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued its monthly update on revenue collections and the economy today, and while the headline number looks very good, revenue for the month $157.7 million higher than had been forecast, the underlying story was not positive. The good headline number was entirely due to the tax amnesty program, which ended […]

Thrive Washington on Economic Development

The latest Thrive Washington paper is now available. Economic Development: Moving Washington State Forward Into Recovery covers education and business climate, as well as more direct economic development policies.  From the conclusion: Public and private groups have made proposals that would enhance the education of our  students to ensure they are prepared to enter the […]

Contracting Out and the Budget

The Olympian today has a piece focusing on proposals to contract out some state services in the 2011-13 budget.  It also touches on state employee reactions to the proposals and talks about some of the merger ideas from the governor. The Senate budget calls for contracting out more of the state’s back-office work, a small […]

New Brief on Higher Education in the 2011-13 Budgets

We have posted a new policy brief on higher education in the House and Senate budgets, titled “Higher Education: State Funding Down, Tuition Up.” It is available through this link. Briefly: Under the House budget, NGFS+ funding for higher education would be $2.81 billion, while under the Senate budget it would be  $2.84 billion. Either […]

CBO on Public Pensions

If our recent policy brief on public pensions piqued your interest in the subject, you’re in luck — the Congressional Budget Office has released its own issue brief: The Underfunding of State and Local Pension Plans. I was glad to see it, because it does a good job of explaining the issues involved, in a […]