News and perspective on public policy issues affecting Washington's economy and quality of life, brought to you by the Economic Opportunity Institute.
With state legislators still at an impasse over Washington’s budget, we’re unveiling a new interactive research tool that allows citizens, journalists, and students to easily examine how public dollars are being spent, and assess the impact of this year’s budget proposals on public schools and universities, hospitals, prisons, courts, health care, and other critical state […]
Despite have the best minimum wage in the county at $9.19/hour in 2013, Washington’s minimum wage still falls short of what many people need to meet basic needs. A recent report from the Alliance for a Just Society titled The Job Gap Report finds that many minimum wage workers are struggling just to make ends meet. […]
Washington’s working families are again under attack from Republicans in the Washington state Senate, who have introduced a second bill to repeal family and medical leave insurance, and scheduled it for a hearing this afternoon. Earlier in the legislative session, Senators Braun, Holmquist-Newbry, Tom, and others introduced an identical bill, which failed to pass out of […]
Our state budget is one of the main ways elected leaders make decisions on our behalf about the future our children and our state will have. Will we continue to underfund education and overcrowd classrooms, or provide adequate resources so kids in every zip code have access to high quality schools? Well, Governor Inslee was […]
