Articles written by jason mercier
Sorted by date Results 26 - 33 of 33
State revenues continue to grow overall
First the good news. Unlike during the great recession, state revenue is still increasing overall during the COVID pandemic. According to the September revenue forecast:... — Updated 10/5/2020
More calls for a special session
Voices across the state continue to ask the Governor to call a special session to allow lawmakers to balance the budget and address COVID-19 related policies. A special session... — Updated 9/15/2020
Support a legislative special session?
California lawmakers addressed their COVID budget situation back in June. Oregon lawmakers are meeting this week in a special session to do the same. According to the National... — Updated 8/18/2020
Washington has too many statewide elected officials
Hopefully you’ve already voted or are soon heading to ballot drop box. Now let’s work to reduce the number of statewide elected offices. At present the people of Washington ele... — Updated 8/12/2020
Governor's power subject to check?
Gov. Jay Inslee continues to extended the state of emergency related to the COVID pandemic and is re-issuing his prior coronavirus emergency orders. I initially believed that under... — Updated 7/20/2020
Will Washington really punt budget action until January?
What once seemed inevitable is now growing unlikely – a special session to balance the state’s budget. This is why it was so important to act before the new spending increases too... — Updated 7/13/2020
State may push income tax, again
TVW recently interviewed the top budget writers in the Senate about the state’s outlook and the possibility of a special session. In one interview, Sen. John Braun (ranking m... — Updated 5/28/2020
Guest column
When House Bill 1888 was proposed this year to help protect state employee unions from an ongoing battle with the Freedom Foundation, the media was strong in opposition against... — Updated 2/25/2020