After two days in Spokane and then Ellensburg, House Higher Education Committee Chairman Larry Seaquist, ranking minority member Larry Haler and committee member Susan Fagan visited WSU Tri-Cities Thursday and it generated this news story. While discussion certainly turned to the state’s budget problems, the visit served as a bit of a 101 session for […]
We’re on the road again today – more on that later – so we’re late to getting to the news that Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday called for a 30-day special legislative session to commence Nov. 28. That would come 11 days after the next quarterly forecast of state tax collections. The most recent one […]
The House Higher Education Committee kicked off its interim road show Tuesday at WSU Spokane and is meeting today at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Under the dark cloud of additional budget reductions on the horizon, the committee is using its so-called Chautauqua Series to learn about how the various higher education sectors are meeting […]
The state anticipates $1.4 billion less in tax revenue through July 1, 2013, than previously thought, opening a new deficit close to $1.3 billion just months after the Legislature balanced the budget with widespread cuts. That’s according to this report released this morning by the state’s Revenue and Forecast Council. It remains to be seen […]
The state’s bipartisan Redistricting Commission released a quartet of proposals – one from each of the Legislature’s four caucuses – this week as part of its once-a-decade efforts to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative district boundaries. Lines are redrawn after every U.S. Census to ensure that each district is of roughly equal size to […]
The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council reported today that tax collections for the past month came in just $9.5 million below expectations but hinted that a significant downturn in expected revenue is in the offing. The Council is due to release its quarterly revenue forecast at 10 a.m. Thursday. It is thought that it […]
The state’s Revenue and Economic Forecast Council issued a new report Friday that only serves to fuel speculation the September 15th revenue forecast could dramatically reduce state revenues. The quarterly economic review, found here, generally informs the revenue forecast which follows a week or two later. It is thought next week’s forecast could drop anticipated […]
Voting is underway in Washington DC on the deal that was struck late last night on raising the debt ceiling. McBee Strategic has provided this detailed analysis and below are a few more notable points to be aware of. • President Obama reached an agreement with Congressional leaders last night on a multi-step deficit-reduction package […]
As you know, the U.S. Congress and President Obama are in negotiations regarding the debt ceiling. This discussion includes many proposals to cut federal spending and The House of Representatives have begun to pass legislation to eliminate programs or funding of programs. As a result, many of you may receive notifications from professional organizations that […]
This Debt Ceiling Q&A document was written by our federal lobbyist group at McBee Strategic. The WSU Government Affairs team found it informative and hope you will find it likewise. Please keep in mind that the section describing possible outcomes was written before July 19th and there may be different options being discussed and finally […]