Employment in Washington has improved considerably since April 2011, when the unemployment rate was more than a percentage point higher at 9.3%. Since then, the state has added nearly 40,000...Read more here

This year’s Tax Freedom Day finally arrived for Washington State today, April 24th—twelve days later than last year.  Washington’s Tax Freedom Day is a week later than the National Tax...Read more here

This year, April 15—the usual deadline to file federal taxes—fell on a Sunday. Whenever that happens, the IRS actually puts off tax day. This makes sense if you’re familiar with the Gospels,...Read more here

Governor Chris Gregoire called for a special session on September 22nd of last year to address an impending budget shortfall. 201 days later, after a third special session and a...Read more here

This proposal essentially lures money from private-sector workers and companies into the bankrupt state pension systems. Our state and local government pension systems are already heading toward...Read more here

The Senate’s proposal to eliminate early retirement benefits for new hires isn’t an act of class warfare, nor is it an assault on state workers. The reform idea, originally put for by...Read more here

Yesterday, after over a week of no progress in negotiations on the state budget, Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire brought forth her own suggestion for closing the budget hole.
Her plan,...Read more here

Senate Republicans released a new budget proposal yesterday, hoping to entice Democrats from both the House and the Senate to adopt their plan. Republicans have done away with all cuts to K-12...Read more here

With roughly a $500 million gap still to close, both parties and playing the blame game and wondering where to make up the difference. Legislators would do well to remember that an uptick in...Read more here

Surprise—today is the mandatory last day of the 2012 legislative session! Actually, it’s no surprise at all. Nor was it a surprise 60 days ago, when the session began, that the current state...Read more here

Friday night, the political left was apoplectic about “hijacking” and “extremism” as a bipartisan group of Senators formed a temporary majority on the State Senate floor in order to pass a needed...Read more here

With less than a week to go in the 2012 legislative session, control of the Washington State Senate was wrenched away from the established Democratic Party leadership today by a bipartisan...Read more here

Washington State Senate Democrats released a budget proposal in response to HB 2127 on Tuesday, the House’s latest attempt to close part of the state’s $1.4 billion budget hole. While the...Read more here

At the University of Washington in Seattle, libraries on campus now have reduced hours. Class options are shrinking. Student resources are scarce. And it’s all in the name of budget cuts. But...Read more here

A new Freedom Foundation study shows that in the Olympia area, Washington’s prevailing wage law requires contractors to pay construction equipment operators at least $49.46 per hour. Yet the...Read more here

The Freedom Foundation has compiled all tax and fee increases by bill sponsor. The resulting list of proposed tax and fee increases is shown below.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, just once, a legislator introduced a bill that said something like the following…. “The legislature finds that the following industry is really, really important....Read more here

It’s one thing for the justices to define “ample” in terms sure to please the teacher’s unions to whom they’re beholden. But where’s all this money going to come...Read more here

Gov. Gregoirie presents a particularly sad case, always pandering and apologizing, always full of herself but never sure of herself. She’s terribly sorry for proposing cuts, but has no choice....Read more here