News & Stories
Policy is personal. So, we want to share more than just data.
Stay up to date with our legislative updates, organizational news, media mentions, and more.
Young people like me face an economy with rising income inequality, rising higher education costs, climbing student debt, and relatively stagnant wages. We’re also facing a workplace culture that expects us to be available for long hours, sometimes around the clock. Recent data show that the typical American works more than 8 hours during a […]
Today, the Washington Court of Appeals released its ruling on the lawsuit against Seattle’s income tax on the affluent. The court found Seattle to be completely within its rights to implement its own income tax. “Seattle has the statutory authority to adopt a property tax on income,” the ruling says. The Economic Opportunity Institute helped […]
Every year, we choose fellows for the Floyd Jones fellowship, honoring a man who grew up in dire poverty as a sharecropper in Arkansas, yet moved to Washington and became an extremely astute and successful financial investor. Floyd did not sit on his wealth. He put it to work for the benefit of others, in […]
On Sunday, Oregon’s legislature gave final approval to a new law providing paid family and medical leave. And on Monday, Washington officially launched the web portal that allows employers to pay the premiums they’ve been collecting for our state program. With these two big milestones successfully passed, the day is fast approaching when workers up […]
Today the Court of Appeals heard oral arguments regarding Seattle’s Income Tax on the Affluent. This is the next step of the legal process for Seattle’s Income Tax on the Affluent. We look forward to continuing to share our insights in the legalities of Seattle’s Income Tax on the Affluent with the Court. We understand […]
After 43 years of inaction, Washington State plans to update the overtime threshold for salaried workers. The threshold is now less than minimum wage. As a result, you might be losing out on hundreds of dollars from your weekly paycheck, along with sick leave and personal time. Every worker with an hourly wage earns overtime […]
Late Saturday evening, Washington’s Legislature passed a bill that will lower health care costs for people across the state. Cascade Care creates an affordable insurance option for individuals and families not eligible for insurance through their employer, Medicare or Medicaid. These patients must purchase their insurance on the individual market and now often pay 30 […]
As the 2019 session draws to a close, state legislators are considering how to implement Cascade Care, which would create a state-sponsored plan for the individual market to reduce health care premiums and deductibles. Both chambers have passed Cascade Care bills, but different versions, which need to be united to pass. Senate Bill 5526 in […]
A new study shows that teachers face a significant wage penalty compared to other college-educated professionals in almost every state. Washington is second-worst, trailing only Arizona, with teachers making 31.6 percent less than similarly educated professionals. Meanwhile, school districts across the state are scrambling to find enough teachers to staff their classrooms, and the Legislature […]
For most of 2019, stock market advisors have said to steer clear of investing in health insurance companies. In fact, health-care stocks are lagging the broader market by their largest margin since 2006, even though many are producing record profits. Stock investors are afraid the “Medicare for All” movement embraced by some Democratic presidential candidates […]
The just-released 2019 Social Security Trustees Report lands with a thud – literally – because it’s 270 pages long. But fear not, the key takeaways are straightforward: Social Security has a large accumulated surplus – totaling $2.9 trillion – that is sufficient for 100 percent funding until 2035. Looking out a bit further, the Trust […]
For a PDF fact sheet, click here. Today, the Washington State Legislature began considering a bill to tax some of the elephantine and ridiculous salaries in our state. (Most likely not yours.) We’re talking people who are paid more than $1 million per year. (Surprisingly, not Jeff Bezos. His money is in tax-free capital gains). […]
Washington’s State Senate today took another step forward for gender pay equity, passing HB 1696, which prohibits employers from asking applicants about their wage history. The vote was strongly bipartisan, with majorities of both Democrats and Republicans supporting the bill. The Senate reached that bipartisan consensus by amending provisions about pay scale transparency that were […]
We’ve been pretending we can fund quality public services in Washington on the cheap, and now it’s catching up with us. We need more from state services than a generation or two ago. We expect public schools to provide more challenging curricula with smaller class sizes, comprehensive special education, and counseling to help kids cope […]
“OZ” is almost synonymous with charlatanism. The Wizard of Oz was just a man behind the curtain pretending he had fearsome powers. Dr. Mehmet Oz from television advocates for astrology and has been called before Congress for selling “miracle” diet pills. And now, traveling fraudsters are trying to get the Washington Legislature to invest in […]
Illustrations by Ellen Crenshaw All across the country, it’s harder than ever to survive. Even though the unemployment rate is low, that doesn’t mean people are making more money. People are working more hours at their job – or jobs – and are still just barely getting by. Wages for the typical worker haven’t improved […]
For a PDF, click here Cascade Care, HB 1523 Cascade Care will make health care more affordable and accessible in the individual insurance market and for all Washingtonians. The high cost of health insurance and deductibles results in delayed care, poorer health, medical debt, and people dropping insurance altogether. 6.1 percent of Washingtonians remain uninsured. […]
Washington’s legislature is moving forward a menu of bills that will improve health and economic security for state residents by lowering health care costs, increasing access, and offering more comprehensive, transparent, and equitable medical services. These bills still have to survive another series of hearings and votes before becoming law, but they made it past […]