In this episode we discuss minimum wage - as The Seattle Times reports, "[t]he International Franchise Association has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in its continuing fight against a part of Seattle’s $15 minimum-wage law the association says discriminates against franchise owners." Also the latest on McCleary, with legislation setting a timeline for achieving full state funding of K-12 basic education making its way though the Legislature. And finally, hip and knee replacement surgery is on the rise - what does it mean for quality of life and measuring output of our healthcare sector?

State Rep. Dan Kristiansen, the Republican leader in the state House, joins us to talk about the future of charter school legislation - he says there are enough votes to pass a Senate-approved bill, but the big question is if House leadership will allow it to be heard in committee. Also, he explains why getting more data from local school districts is so important for the final McCleary fix - turns out, some of the numbers legislators were originally given overstated how much state money the districts would need.

This episode focuses on yesterday's King County Superior Court ruling that Initiative 1366 is unconstitutional, as well as the most recent state employment report.

In this episode we expand on our recent report, which found that Washington state's businesses account for 58% of state and local tax collections.

We're into week one of session, and are delving into the big issues: Minimum wage and paid sick leave, state revenues, McCleary and charter schools. On McCleary we discuss a possible legislative plan and point out the incredibly complex issues involved - issues that can't be resolved in a supplemental budget year.

The state legislature convenes Jan. 11 for its 2016 session, and we're looking at some of the budget issues confronting lawmakers. Plus, we briefly discuss legislation to keep charter schools open.

In today's episode we're discussing our series of reports comparing spending and revenues of five counties: King, Pierce, Snohomish, Benton and Franklin.

In this episode we're discussing a national report on state expenditures, state health plan enrollments, re-authorization of the Export-Import Bank, and various bits of aerospace news.

As the 2016 state legislative session approaches, we're continuing our coverage of McCleary and K-12 education funding - this time with state Sen. Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island). Sen. Rolfes talks about putting together a plan for how the state will comply with McCleary, ongoing discussions about what comprises basic education, and progress on a new teacher salary structure. (Excuse the background radio noise, by the way - our equipment picked up some interference.)

Today we're discussing two recent studies on state business taxes, from the Council on State Taxation and the Tax Foundation.