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Expensive Cloud, Silver Lining…
One of the key responsibilities for the state is running the prison system. Overall we spend about $1.5 billion on the entire corrections system, including medical care for inmates. The US Constitution requires that inmates receive healthcare that meets the same standards as is available to the rest of the community. Two new drugs have…
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Dire Future for State Budgets?
The Washington Post has an article today (or some recent day – I only read online) about the long-term pressures faced by state and local governments. The article compares growth in key revenue sources with growth in costs and projects a dire future. The title is “GAO: Without draconian cuts, states face decades-long fiscal crisis“.…
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Rep. Hunter reelected to chair House Appropriations Committee
December 11, 2014 Olympia – Rep. Ross Hunter of Medina will again head the key budget-writing efforts of the majority House Democrats in the 2015 Legislature, serving as chair of the Appropriations Committee. The Appropriations Committee is responsible for writing the two-year state operating budget, which pays for general government expenditures like teacher salaries, health…
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WA State Budget – Ross to talk, show charts, take questions
I’m planning to give an update on the state budget situation Wednesday December 10th at the 48th District Democrats December meeting. The meeting starts at 7:00 PM. It’s not a super-long talk, but I’ll take questions for half an hour or so. They have a section on the bylaws that starts at 8:00 that I’m…
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Man Bites Dog
I got the following email from WA State Auditor Troy Kelley today. It’s part of the performance audits his office does to improve the functioning of state agencies. The audits have skewered lots of agencies over the years since initiative 901 passed. We don’t see too many emails like this because the auditor tends to (quite appropriately)…
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Scary “Drones” or Annoying Neighbors with Model Airplanes?
I’ve gotten a lot of mail recently from ACLU members supporting regulation of drone use in Washington, which I support. However, I won’t support ANY bill on drones. I think the environment is more interesting than just the current ephemeral technology concern of cheap ubiquitous model airplanes. There was a bill last year on this…
