Blog

Our Annual Dinner Speaker, Kim Strassel, on the Federal Budget

This week has been a busy one on the budget front.  Here in Washington, the House Ways and Means Committee proposed and passed a 2011-13 budget, which may be passed by the full House today or tomorrow.  (For more on the budget, see here and here.) It has also been budget week in the U.S. […]

House Ways & Means Committee Passes Budget

Last evening the House Ways and Means Committee passed–with 10 relatively minor amendments–the 2011-13 budget we detailed in yesterday’s policy brief. The 10 amendments added $20.6 million to NGFS+ spending for the biennium. However, the projected ending balance is down by only $3 million (to $792 million) due to the correction of several errors that […]

New Brief on the House Democrats' 2011-13 Budget

We have a new brief up on Rep. Hunter’s 2011-13 budget proposal.  It is a good starting point, cognizant of fiscal reality.  Although fees do figure in, the proposal does not assume that voters will agree to raise taxes. Rep. Alexander has put forth an alternative.  All the information on both proposals is available here.  […]

The case for workers' comp reform

In my column this morning, I review the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 50-state study of employment costs. Washington ranks in the third tier of states, those with poor employment policies and high costs. (Emily notes here that the chamber’s data are a couple of years old. We’d look worse now.) Jason Hagey at Olympia Business […]

New WRC Policy Brief: Clarifying the Role of Tax Preferences

Our new Policy Brief on tax preferences can be download through this link.

New Thrive Washington paper on employment cost drivers published today

The latest in the series of white papers published by the Washington Research Council and Washington Roundtable examines workers’ compensation reform and unemployment insurance. In particular, the report urges lawmakers to act this session to fix the state’s broken workers’ comp system. Here’s the link to Employment Cost Drivers in Washington State: The Case for […]

House Releases 2011-13 (and 2011 Supplemental) Budget

The House proposal for the 2011-13 budget (including a final 2011 supplemental to close out the 2009-11 biennium) is now public. In Near General Fund-State plus Opportunity Pathways (NGF-P) terms, the 2011 supplemental would reduce spending in the current biennium by $93 million (on top of reductions made in the early action supplementals), to bring […]

Outdated Data in U.S. Chamber Employment Policy Study

AWB’s Olympia Business Watch notes that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released a study on state employment policies and job growth.  In considering the states’ employment policies, the Chamber looked at employment relationships/costs of separation, minimum wage and living wage laws, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation, wage and hour policies, collective bargaining, and litigation/enforcement […]

Washington's Union Membership Rates

Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics sent out a press release on union membership in Washington in 2010.  BLS notes, “Since 1990, Washington has had union membership rates above the U.S. average.” In fact, in 2010, Washington’s union membership as a percent of total employment was the fourth highest in the country, behind […]

Four Charts on Washington Personal Income

The Bureau of Economic Analysis updated its estimates of state-level personal income on Wednesday, with numbers through the 4th quarter of 2010 (BEA press release). Here are 4 charts using the new data.