By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Dec. 31, 2010
A new report from the state auditor says a big chunk of the state worker's compensation program is insolvent, and another big part is heading that way.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Dec. 15, 2010
Looks like the unions won big in this year's contract talks, despite the state's financial nightmare. State workers have agreed to take a few hours off each month without a pay -- a pay cut that doesn't require a permanent salary reductio...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Dec. 11, 2011
Lawmakers were singing hosannas of bipartisanship as they held a quick special session to make emergency cuts in the state budget. Democrats and Republicans cooperated for once as they did the easy stuff -- but they still have another $5 ...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Dec. 9, 2010
That takes care of about 14 percent of the state's whopping $5.7 billion budget problem. But hey, it's a start, right? Subdued Democratic leaders, facing a threat by the governor to call them back no matter what, said they managed to reach...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Dec. 3, 2010
At long last, House Democrats release their list of spending-cut proposals -- and appear to heed the governor's warning that the state's budget problems are urgent and dire. But we're still waiting on the Senate Dems, and there's no word y...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Nov. 5, 2010
Deep cuts now seem the only way out of the state's $5 billion budget hole, and Republicans are calling for a swift special session. The governor says she's thinking the idea over. But no word from legislative Democrats, who have the final ...
The success of anti-tax ballot measures on Tuesday's ballot mean lawmakers need to act fast to prevent huge problems next year. With passage of I-1107, the state's shortfall now approaches $5 billion, and I-1053 means lawmakers will have to cons...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Nov. 1, 2010
Everyone said health care reform was going to drive insurance costs up, and now the first bill is coming due. But get this -- part of it goes to the state. A new requirement that allows parents to enroll their adult children will drive up ...
By: William W. Larson | Special to Washington State Wire | Oct. 8, 2010
In this op-ed piece, William W. Larson points out that the new round of cuts at the Department of Social and Health Services go precisely where they shouldn't. There's plenty of fat that can be trimmed at the top before t...
By Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Oct. 1, 2010
Two state senators are asking state employees how to cut the budget, and they're getting a huge response -- better than the governor got with a public appeal last summer. Staff says there are some doozies in that suggestion box. And the who...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Sept. 24, 2010
Another big increase in unemployment insurance taxes is on the way for next year, on the heels of the big increase that took effect this year. You can blame the recession. But it means a doubling of unemployment taxes in just two years -...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Sept. 20, 2010
Open mouth, insert foot -- Bill Gates, Sr., the leading spokesman for the state's income tax ballot measure, appears to undercut one of the campaign's biggest arguments.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Sept. 14, 2010
The governor says the state is likely to run more than a half-billion dollars short when the next tax-revenue forecast is issued later this week -- worse than anyone thought. She issued an executive order Monday directing state agencies ...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Sept. 13, 2010
Just when it seemed as though the news from Olympia wasn't bad enough, a judge has ruled that a "gain-sharing" pension benefit granted to state employees years ago cannot be revoked. You can add it to the $3 billion shortfall the state f...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Aug. 26, 2010
The state and its public employee unions drew even firmer lines when they met behind closed doors this week. The state now wants workers to pick up 26 percent of the cost of their health-insurance premiums -- another big bite from paychec...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Aug. 4, 2010
A preliminary vote on a $26 billion Medicaid bill for once offers good news for the state. The U.S. Senate Wednesday morning finally said yes to the measure, which means $480 million for the state of Washington -- and could stave off big c...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Aug. 3, 2010
More dithering in Congress over Medicaid money means more dithering in this Washington about whether to call a special session. If Congress doesn't come through with $480 million in Medicaid money, Democrats still haven't decided whether t...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | July 31, 2010
The governor wants help from the Legislature to deal with an impending budget crisis and demands an answer by noon Monday. And here's a switch! Republicans say they are happy to give a helping hand to the poor governor, but Gregoire's own...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | July 29, 2010
The wacky-tobacky budget-balancing plan is the public's favorite idea so far for fixing the state's big revenue problem. At least that's what it's saying on the governor's official website. Will the governor say yes to drugs?
No news is bad news. Top economist Arun Raha tells a legislative committee that nothing has happened in the last month or so to improve the forecast he issued in June. And what it means is this. The state is down $207 million so far -- and if Congress ...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | July 21, 2010
For the second year in a row, state employees will face big increases in medical-insurance costs. But the state is holding the line on copayments and deductibles -- a big issue last year. And the big bugaboo about benefits -- the 88-12 sp...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | July 19, 2010
Tough luck, Labrador! And let us bid Quebecois shoppers adieu! Five provinces in eastern Canada are losing a Washington-state sales-tax break, at least for now. A judge has blocked a sales tax break that would have applied to every reside...
By : Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | July 12, 2010
There's a new wrinkle in one of the state's strangest-ever legal battles. Big retail chains and the Washington Retail Association say they want a quick court decision about whether to give British Columbia residents a sales tax exemption...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | April 23, 2010
Can you find the legislator in this picture? 77 Democrats voted for this year's tax package, but only one showed up for the bill-signing. Doesn't anyone want honors?
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | April 14, 2010
Every speech from the Senate floor! Lawmakers pass the most controversial bill of the session, enacting a $794 million tax package -- what some like to call the biggest tax increase in state history.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | March 10, 2010
Last-minute agitation over a green plan to raise taxes on oil is providing one of the biggest dramas of the 2010 Legislature's final hours. But the Senate vote-count is stuck at 24, just as it has been all session long.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | March 5, 2010
Lawmakers are counting on nearly a billion dollars in tax increases, and the tax package is yet to come. Here's a look at what they actually said on the House floor.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | March 4, 2010
Include her out, says Judy Clibborn of a green plan to raise oil taxes. The measure is one of the top priorities for the environmental lobby, but support appears to be faltering.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 27, 2010
The state Senate Saturday evening took the first big budget vote of the year, appproving a spending plan that will require nearly $1 billion in new taxes. And it ducks the question -- how is the Legislature going to pay for it all?
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 27, 2010
A sketchy bill introduced in the state House shows the trouble that chamber’s Democrats are having coming up with a tax plan. The "title-only" bill is vaguer than most, and could include just about anything.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 25, 2010
The governor's decision to sign came as a surprise to no one. Without the bill, Democrats couldn't raise taxes this year -- and they say they must. But why was initiative sponsor Tim Eyman hovering over her shoulder?
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said Wednesday during a meeting with reporters that opposition runs strong within her caucus to a Senate proposal that would end a sales-tax credit for trade-ins. It's a major issue for car dealers ...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 14, 2010
Port districts and trade interests come out swinging against a tax increase on interstate truck and train shipments -- would chase traffic to L.A., B.C., they say.
Exactly how big a hole lawmakers will have to fill next year is anyone’s guess at this point. But it looks like it's between $1 billion and $2 billion. And lawmakers will either have to raise taxes, or else they’ll have to cut -- again.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 4, 2012
A decision by a Democratic chairwoman to kill a pair of high-profile education bills has triggered an all-but-unheard-of standoff in a Senate committee and a backroom blowup among the Senate Democrats. And it demonstrates this year, as last, that the moderate Roadkill Dems hold all the cards.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 3, 2012
Gov. Christine Gregoire’s proposal for a $1.50 tax on oil-by-the-barrel to pay for road construction and environmental projects is looking like it has a dead battery, as three key senators say the governor’s plan just isn’t clicking. Meanwhile, a pair of influential House lawmakers have introduced a constitutional amendment that would block the green lobby's efforts to tax "Big Oil" once and for all.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 3, 2012
House Republicans show what they mean when they say "Fund Education First," unveilling a partial budget plan that deals only with K-12 education. Everything else can come later. Democrats say it's no way to write a budget.
Newt is not going to quit. He is going to continue to try and hold his cool, not go off on someone or about some issue. He is as smart as any one of them, continues to talk of solid experienced realignment of our government...
Do we have to continue to talk about what's going on in the real world, the demands being placed on future generations of students, the drag on success created by 20th century education unions, the desire of most educators to do the right thing, and the current lack of courage by Washington's elected to step up?
SB 6369 simple states that where there are “gaps” in the evidence don't worry about it, just go ahead with the plan. In a world of DOE staff looking for every opportunity to prove their worth to certain constituencies this is a free pass.
Next, do we need a bill to modernize a statute? Probably, because...you guessed it, modern words for modern technology. Excuse the word functionality. The drafters and advocates must think that the state EPA actually works, you know, functions.
A bill working its way through the Legislature has triggered something of a bizarro world in Olympia, with liberals lambasting a government takeover of health care and two of the state's most powerful unions fighting each other.
About 47,000 Medicaid patients in Clark County are about to be thrust into turmoil -- as will the health care plan that has served them for 18 years -- if the state Health Care Authority has its way.
A federal judge is expected to rule this month whether Washington state can require pharmacies to sell the Plan B contraceptive, even if the druggists object on religious grounds.
Whereas inadequate medical care accounts for 10% of premature deaths in the United States, behavioral patterns, social circumstances, and environmental exposures have a far greater effect, accounting for roughly 60% of deaths.
A report released today by the actuarial firm Milliman Inc. said the new tax in 2014 will cost the Medicaid program between $36.5 billion and $41.9 billion over 10 years. At least $13 billion will be borne by states.
"Open enrollment has to be ready to go by Oct. 1, 2013, so in January of 2013 we have to submit our products and rates for [state] approval," said Alissa Fox, senior vice president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
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