Blog

InFocus: SeaTac minimum wage ruling, State employment report

Too soon to tell if marijuana is driving an increase in fatal crashes

The Washington Traffic Safety Commission released new data this week that shows that marijuana is increasing as a factor in deadly crashes. The number of drivers involved in deadly crashes who tested positive for marijuana increased 48 percent from 2013 to 2014. Here’s the data. For comparison, from 2013 to 2014, the number of drivers […]

WA Supreme Court: Prop. 1's $15 minimum wage and other labor provisions apply at Sea-Tac airport

This morning the state Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that SeaTac’s Proposition 1 applies to Sea-Tac airport. Prop. 1 was approved by voters in SeaTac in 2013. It established a $15 minimum wage and paid sick leave benefits for certain hospitality, transportation, and airport workers. It also imposed restrictions on employers’ labor practices. (Here is our […]

New market problems

A couple of recent stories illustrate some of the difficulties businesses and industries can have in getting up and running. Washington’s new recreational marijuana market has faced many problems related to the fact that marijuana is still illegal under federal law. Banking is an example. A Crosscut article from earlier this month points to another […]

The future is on the farm

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story about how farms are utilizing data and technology to be more productive. People often seem to have sentimental ideas about farming and ranching, so sentences like this may be surprising: “The world’s largest producer of autonomous four-wheeled vehicles isn’t Tesla or Google, it’s John Deere.” Unlike most […]

Washington wasn't the only state to have a hard time passing a budget

TaxVox (the Tax Policy Center’s blog) has a post today about the problems some states have had in meeting budget deadlines this year. It suggests that politics — not economics — is the source of the issue. During the Great Recession and its aftermath, the economy wreaked havoc on state budget negotiations, forcing tough votes […]

Policy Today: Common Ground – is it possible?

In this episode we welcome special guest Randi Abrams-Caras for the first of what we hope will be many discussions about finding common ground on policy in a politically polarized world.

Largest hotel in NW moving forward

The Seattle Times reports that the City of Seattle will allow the R.C. Hedreen hotel at 8th and Howell to go forward. It is a very interesting story. The hotel will have 1,264 rooms — the largest in the city (the Sheraton has 1,236 rooms). But originally the hotel was going to be even bigger, […]

Technology has made corn ubiquitous

The Hill reports that the House Agriculture Committee has passed a bill that would allow for a voluntary, federal labeling standard for genetically engineered (GE) foods. It would preempt states from mandating such labeling. Of course, Washington voters rejected an initiative in 2013 that would have created a mandatory labeling scheme here. Meanwhile, the Washington […]

How the drought could affect beer prices

The Puget Sound Business Journal’s current cover story is on how Washington’s drought is affecting craft breweries. (The story is behind the paywall.) The impact is most felt via the hops that are used in production. Demand is high for hops, and “demand plus drought is a costly combination.” Michael Butler, chairman and CEO of […]