Charter schools now law - Cinderella edition

For this Cinderella story, the clock striking midnight was a good thing. With a tick of the clock to midnight on Sunday, Washington joined 42 other states with charter schools. Though we would have preferred to see Governor Inslee sign the bill (and provide those students that testified and rallied at legislature a bill ceremony) we are excited he allowed the bill to become law . . . READ MORE

Fate of performance audits now rests on Governor's veto pen

Now that lawmakers have adopted the 2016 supplemental budget and taken 74% of the voter-approved dedicated performance audit funding away from the State Auditor's Office, all eyes turn to the Governor and his veto pen. When the budget details were first posted yesterday it looked like the calls to not raid the performance audit funds had been heard. All three budgets (Governor, House & Senate) had originally proposed a $10 million transfer of the performance audit funds . . . READ MORE

Historic votes as Senate overrides Governor's mass vetoes

With the same warp speed the Governor used to veto 27 bills on March 10, the Senate today started to override each of those vetoes. As of now 15 override votes have been taken with more planned for tonight. Here are some of the tweets from today's historic veto override votes . . . READ MORE

Congress approves Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act

Exciting news to share - last week Congress approved and sent to President Obama the bi-partisan Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act of 2016. The bill was co-sponsored by Washington’s Sen. Patty Murray and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. After receiving a request to comment on the proposal from Sen. Murray’s office in 2014, Washington Policy Center President Dann Mead Smith met with Congressional Senate and House budget committee staff on Capitol Hill to discuss this effort and offer WPC assistance to help move this important reform forward. We are very excited to see Congress finally send it to President Obama . . . READ MORE

Public budget details - what, you think this is Sunshine Week?

Like most Washingtonians on day six of the special session, I'm still trying to get caught up on what happened last week when the Legislature adjourned without finishing the supplemental budget. One of the more curious complaints I heard about the new Senate budget proposal is that the details were made publicly available instead of first exchanged in secret behind closed doors as usually happens in Olympia . . . READ MORE

Lawmakers target 74% of dedicated performance audit funds

Ignoring a prior warning from Acting State Auditor Jan Jutte that additional raids of the dedicated I-900 performance audit funds would imperil important work, the House budget released this week transfers an additional $10 million. This means nearly 74% of the available funds would have been swept from the purposes intended by taxpayers . . . READ MORE

Has the state Supreme Court ever reversed one of its opinions?

The state Supreme Court has granted a request to extend the deadline to October 23 for motions for reconsideration for its highly controversial 6-3 charter school ruling. The Attorney General, however, still plans to file his motion on September 24. The Attorney General said in a press release announcing his plans to request reconsideration . . . READ MORE

District elections would increase competition for Supreme Court races

After several recent controversial decisions by the state Supreme Court the Seattle Times this weekend took a closer look at the electoral competition, or rather lack thereof, for the Justices. According to the Times . . . READ MORE

State rejected WFSE request to pay employees for not crossing strike picket lines

Now that the 2015-17 state budget has been signed into law the public is able to request details from last summer's secret contract negotiations between state employee unions and Governor Inslee's office. I just received the first batch of public records (more to come in October) with some of these details. One of the interesting contract demands the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) made was to add this language to Article 49 concerning strikes (emphasis added) . . . READ MORE

Rob McKenna issues reminder that teacher strikes are illegal

On the eve of a strike vote by teachers in the Pasco School District, former Attorney General Rob McKenna posted this reminder . . . READ MORE

Acting State Auditor fights for dedicated performance audit funds

Both the most recent House and Senate budget proposals continue to raid the voter-approved dedicated I-900 performance audit funds for the State Auditor. The House budget transfers $6 million from the performance audit account for general spending. The Senate budget appropriates nearly $11 million of the dedicated funds to be spent by other agencies . . . READ MORE

Statement from Brian Sonntag on importance of public trust in State Auditor

Brian Sonntag, former 20 year State Auditor and current Washington Policy Center Board member, issued this statement today on the importance of public trust in State Auditor . . . READ MORE

Title only bill would provide every Washingtonian one free drink a week (satire)

While traveling to Olympia to testify on a bill on a holiday may not be a high priority for most Washingtonians, you may want to make an exception for next Monday. The title only bill, HB 2082 (Relating to commerce in liquor) is scheduled for a public hearing and executive action that day. Based on my best interpretation of that blank piece of legislation, it would provide every Washingtonian one free drink a week paid for by the per diem of lawmakers. Who could object to that . . . READ MORE

District elections for Supreme Court gets public hearing

This morning the Senate Law & Justice Committee held a public hearing on SJR 8205: Amending the state Constitution so that justices of the supreme court are elected by qualified electors of a supreme court judicial district. The hearing provided an opportunity for Senators to ask questions of the Supreme Court as Justice Debra Stephens offered her thoughts on the proposal. I also had the opportunity to testify remotely via the phone. Here is my testimony . . . READ MORE

Electing the state Supreme Court by districts

When the 2014 election is certified, only one of the nine justices on the state Supreme Court will be from Eastern Washington, Justice Debra Stephens. Had she not won her election, all of the state's Supreme Court justices would be from the Puget Sound region. When a vacancy recently came open on the court, several newspapers called on Governor Inslee to bring more regional balance to the court and select a justice from Eastern Washington.  Instead he appointed Justice Mary Yu from King County . . . READ MORE

And the election winner is . . . To be determined

Voter turnout as of Saturday for the 2014 Election in Washington is a meager 24.4%. This means if we are to get anywhere close to the 62% forecast by the Secretary of State a flood of ballots will be hitting the mail in the next day. This likely means we'll be waiting several days to weeks to learn the winners of close races . . . READ MORE

Harris v. Quinn lives in Washington

It took a few months but we now know the U.S. Supreme Court's June 30 ruling in Harris v. Quinn will be implemented in Washington State. According to the tentative 2015-17 contract agreement between the state and SEIU 775 (Article 4) . . . READ MORE

Does Harris v. Quinn apply to individual providers in Washington?

That was the question I was hoping to answer today but after reviewing the state's August 20th response to the Centeno v. Dept. of Social & Health Services lawsuit in federal court the elusive answer will have to wait. While requesting that case "be dismissed with prejudice" one section of the state's brief today said . . . READ MORE

Senator requests opinion from Attorney General on Harris v. Quinn impact in Washington

On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Harris v. Quinn calling into question the forced unionization of some Washington residents. More than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, however, there has been no official word yet from the Governor or Attorney General on how the ruling will be implemented in Washington. On August 5, state Senator John Braun sent a letter to the Attorney General requesting an informal opinion to answer these three questions . . . READ MORE

Protest planned for tomorrow's secret union contract negotiations

Tomorrow the Governor's Office will continue secret contract negotiations with state employee unions focused on compensation related issues for the 2015-17 budget. Not only is the public and media not allowed to monitor these conversations but the legislative committee created in the same law that authorized closed door contract negotiations still hasn't been consulted as required by law. This lack of legislative consultation isn't new, however, as the committee the Governor is charged to consult with has never met since the law went into effect in 2002 . . . READ MORE