The 2013 Legislative Session ended about a month ago, and we are still analyzing the impact it will have on our state. We’ve released a new report 2013 Session Recap: Not a Path to Prosperity.

We take a look at the session and examine how lawmakers dealt with meeting the state’s current needs,
while also addressing a State Supreme Court mandate to fully fund basic
education by 2018. Our Framework for Prosperity, published at the beginning of 2013,
laid out a path to rebuild our economy with specific recommendations
for targeted investments in education, health care, and other resources
that provide opportunity for all and create better jobs. The Framework
also laid out ways to pay for those investments and proposed changes to
the state’s tax system to help fuel economic recovery and stabilize
Washington state’s schools, transportation system, and other public
resources.

Importantly, the 2013 Legislative Session did not adequately invest in rebuilding a middle class still struggling to recover from the Great Recession, nor did it make significant progress to create widely shared prosperity. Instead lawmakers maintained the status quo, providing short-term fixes to our most pressing problems that do nothing to meet Washington state’s long-term needs. 

Read the full report here.