-
Slowing the Growth of Medicaid
New York state has a process for meeting an attractive goal: slowing the growth of Medicaid spending to the level of medical inflation. The New York Times opined positively on it in March. The article is worth reading and it sounds really great, but you have to understand what it means. Medicaid cost growth has…
-
House Budget Proposal
Earlier this month I released the House budget proposal for 2011-13. Just before the end of the regular session, the Senate released their proposal. I asked for the job of chairman of the budget committee, but it’s clear my timing with the economy might have been better. This budget is responsible, thoughtful, and sustainable. I’ve…
-
Revenue Forecast Due This Week
On Thursday the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will issue our forecast for future revenue. This will cover both the current fiscal year (from now until June 30th) and the 2011-13 biennium. As has been widely reported we’re expecting bad news. My personal guess is that revenues will be down somewhere between $500 million and…
-
March 12 Town Hall
The 2011 legislative session is now halfway through. State Sen. Rodney Tom (D-Bellevue) and Reps. Ross Hunter (D-Medina) and Deb Eddy (D-Kirkland) invite Eastside residents to a Town Hall on Saturday, March 12 for an update and discussion on the budget and other legislation of interest. When: Saturday, March 12 at 10:30 a.m. Where: Redmond…
-
State Employee Compensation and Benefits
There was a great article in the Sunday Seattle Times about state worker compensation that lays out some of the issues we face in doing the budget this year. Wisconsin’s state capital is in flames (not really, but figuratively) because the governor proposes requiring employees to contribute 12.8% of the cost of the premiums for…
-
Cougars, Wolves and other bills
There are a number of bills this year from rural legislators that propose to allow hunting of wolves and cougars. In particular three bills about wolves: 1107: Preparing for the epidemiological consequences of diseases related to wolf populations 1108: Concerning the state’s management of wolves. 1109: Concerning legislative review of gray wolf conservation and management.…
-
Supplemental Budget Action
Today the House and Senate passed a bipartisan supplemental budget bill that sets us up to finish the 2010 fiscal year (ending in June 2011) in the black. In December we faced a $1.2 billion shortfall between expected revenue and expected expenses and solved $588 million of the problem. We solved another $367 million today,…
