Jmercier

With only a few months left in her term as Governor, Gregoire is continuing full speed ahead with her efforts to cement LEAN management principles in state practice.

Adding to her prior LEAN efforts the Governor will keynote the Washington State Government Lean Transformation Conference on October 23/24 in Tacoma.

Undeterred by four straight losses at the ballot box (2010, 2007, 1998 and 1993), opponents of Washington's nearly 20 year old supermajority vote requirement for tax increases are once again trying to have the voter-approved requirement declared unconstitutional.

In response to this latest legal challenge the Association of Washington Business (AWB) has filed a legal brief defending the law. Among the points AWB makes:

Thanks to a budget proviso directing the Washington State Parks Commission to develop a report showing how the agency plans "to make the parks system self-supporting," the future of state parks has taken center stage in recent weeks.

One of the many interesting details in the State Parks Commission's report was this section:

If you're one of those who likes to wait till the last possible moment to place your ballot in the mail your time is running out. Ballots need to be postmarked by 8 p.m. tonight. Once the "polls" close, we can begin the long wait for results to trickle in over the coming weeks. 

According to the National Association of Secretaries of State, however, the vast majority of states require mail-in ballots to actually be received by Election Day. NASS reports:

The Attorney General's Office has submitted the short descriptions for the two non-binding advisory votes that will appear on the November ballot as required by Initiative 960 for tax increases not first submitted to the voters for approval.

Here are the short descriptions:

When adopting for the third time the state's supermajority requirement for tax increases in 2007 with the passage of Initiative 960, voters also approved the requirement for a non-binding advisory vote for any tax increase not first sent to the voters for ratification.

This legal requirement means voters should have the opportunity to consider at least one tax increase advisory vote this fall.

As reported by the Everett Herald:

Raise your hand if you thought one of the key strategies in Congress this fall would be the possibility of diving head first over the "fiscal cliff" the Congressional Budget Office warned about? Me neither. Yet that is exactly where we stand today as reported by the Seattle Times: