State Supreme Court considers $1.3 billion pension case

The State Supreme Court will hear a pension case this Thursday at 9 a.m. brought by various unions that could cost taxpayers an additional $1.3 billion at the state and local level during the 2015-17 biennium and billions more in the future. At issue is whether lawmakers had the legal right to make changes to what they thought were conditional pension benefit increases . . . READ MORE

State Supreme Court grants prior Governor's office request for shroud of secrecy

Channeling former President Nixon, the state Supreme Court today showed Washington State isn't that different from Washington D.C. after all by granting the Governor's office the claim of executive privilege to deny citizens access to public records. The decision stems from a Freedom Foundation lawsuit against former Governor Gregoire that argued her claim of executive privilege over nearly 500 records was a violation of the state's landmark public records law since there was no exemption from public disclosure in the law for the broad claim of executive privilege . . . READ MORE

Editorial boards pan I-517 and I-522

Are the state's editorial boards reflective of the general voting public? We'll know after the votes are counted on Initiative 517 and Initiative 522. Based on the near consensus of the editorials to date, supporters of the proposals may be feeling a bit nervous. Here's a roundup . . . READ MORE

Principles of a good tax system

The House Finance Committee held a work session yesterday reviewing the state's tax structure and how it compares nationally. I had the opportunity to present on the principles of a good tax system. I encouraged the committee to focus its tax reform efforts around the following fundamental building blocks of a good tax structure . . . READ MORE