A month after concluding two unusually contentious legislative sessions — the highlight of which was writing a budget that filled an anticipated $1.6 billion revenue gap — Washington state on Monday found out it actually had more money than it thought. Taxable retail sales increased 3 percent to $103.8 billion in calendar year 2011,...
Read More »

  Washington’s 135 public airports are continuing to help local economies take flight, generating thousands of jobs and millions of dollars for cities and counties throughout the state. The findings are just a few of the highlights from the recently-released 2012 Aviation Economic Impact Study, conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Aviation...
Read More »

With the three-week window to file for office in Washington state ready to open on April 30, attention in the governor’s race, where two-term incumbent Christine Gregoire decided early on to step aside, has focused on Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna and Democratic U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee. They aren’t the only hopefuls in the...
Read More »

OLYMPIA—The Washington State Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a challenge to the state’s executive privilege statute — a presumed “right” that Gov. Christine Gregoire asserted nearly 500 times in a four-year period to stymie dozens of public records requests. “If the governor is allowed to withhold records through executive privilege, it would...
Read More »

The Washington State Health Care Authority is working with the Washington State Hospital Association and physicians on a legislative mandate to reduce non-emergency use of hospital Emergency Departments as well as over-utilization of emergency services beginning July 1. The new plan – included in the Supplemental Budget passed April 11 by the Legislature – replaces earlier...
Read More »

The Washington State Department of Ecology’s newly released climate change strategy, according to at least one outspoken critic, amounts to little more than a thinly veiled attempt to hinder development at a time when the state needs to be doing everything possible to promote private-sector business and jobs. “This is yet another obstacle in...
Read More »

Little more than two weeks after major surgery to remove a thymoma tumor in his abdomen, Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt, (R-Walla Walla) has been declared to be stage 1 “N.E.D.” – meaning “no evidence of disease.” “I am obviously thrilled with the prognosis,” Hewitt said on Friday following a follow-up visit with his...
Read More »

A panel of nationally recognized healthcare experts on Thursday night unanimously declined to offer a prediction on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Obamacare. But they had no such reservations about predicting dire consequences for the nation if it doesn’t. “Unlike every lawmaker I’ve ever met, I’ve actually read the entire bill,” said...
Read More »

Business people who also dabble in social activism were granted legal cover during the just-concluded Washington state legislative session in the form of a bill that would protect “social-purpose corporations” from lawsuits filed by investors more concerned with making money than advancing a personal agenda. And vice versa. Passed by both houses of the...
Read More »

  “We’re in nothing less than a battle for the future of our nation,” Shelton business owner Pat Tarzwell told a raucous crowd gathered on the steps of the Capitol Building in Olympia on Saturday. “And we have some serious catching up to do. Progressives have a 100-year headstart growing the size of government.”...
Read More »