Contact: John Barnes
206-937-9691
jbarnes@washingtonpolicy.org
SEATTLE – Washington Policy Center (WPC), a non-partisan public policy research organization based in Seattle with offices in Olympia, Spokane, and Tri-Cities, will release the 4th edition of its Policy Guide for Washington State at its annual legislative briefing at the state capitol yesterday.
The Policy Guide, edited by WPC’s Vice President for Research Paul Guppy, contains 150 recommendations, along with background research and analysis, on the following issues:
- Building a sustainable state budget
- Tax reform
- Protecting the environment without sacrificing prosperity
- Patient-driven health care reform
- Education reform that empowers principals and teachers
- Improving the state’s small business climate
- Making government more transparent and accountable
- Making Washington a better place to work
- Preventing the state from stifling innovation in technology and telecommunications industries
“The ideas in our Policy Guide are needed now more than ever,” said WPC President Dann Mead Smith. “As our legislators grapple with numerous challenges in session, and as we enter a pivotal election season, policymakers and candidates for office need the fact-based solutions we provide.”
Voters and lawmakers have acted upon numerous recommendations from previous editions of the Policy Guide, including:
- Not enacting a state income tax.
- Lowering health care costs for the state by giving state employees access to health savings accounts.
- Restructuring state government and increasing the use of competitive contracting.
- Ending the state monopoly on liquor sales.
Since publication of the 1st edition in 2004, Policy Guide for Washington State has received bi-partisan acclaim. Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag called it “an invaluable tool for policymakers and anyone interested in making state government more accountable, efficient, and transparent.” State Sen. Michael Baumgartner said the Policy Guide “contains facts, figures, graphs and data that I often use as a resource,” and called the book “indispensable for advancing the ideas and solutions that our state needs.”
Click here to view the Policy Guide online.
