Open Government
WPC's Center for Government Reform's mission is to partner with stakeholders and citizens to work toward a government focused on its core functions while improving its transparency, accountability, performance, and effectiveness for taxpayers.
What's New
Medicaid Expansion Is Wrong for Washington State
Drew Gonshorowski, WPC Adjunct Scholar and researcher at The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis
, April, 2013Expanding Medicaid is a key element of the federal Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare. Originally, the law required states to extend the public health program to cover individuals and families who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. If a state refused, the feds would cancel all of its Medicaid funding.
Definition of ‘Tax Increase’ Debated
Jason Mercier, Director, Center for Government Reform
, April, 2013When the 2013 Legislative Session began this past January, tax increases in Washington state were a longshot.
First there was the voters’ most recent confirmation (for the fifth time) of the state’s two-decade old law requiring a supermajority vote in the legislature to raise taxes. That proposal, Initiative 1185, received 64 percent of the vote and passed in every county of the state, including liberal King County.