The Official Blog of Senate Democrats

Other states struggling to forecast revenue

11/20/2009

One of the below the surface storylines from yesterday's shocker of a revenue forecast involves questions about the state's ability to accurately project what tax collections will be over time.

Arun Raha, the state's chief economist, has acknowledged that models being used today are producing misleading results, leading to big changes in projections later. And those projections are important because they're used to write actual budgets. More...

Tom discusses budget on Inside Olympia

11/20/2009

Sen. Rodney Tom, a Bellevue Democrat and vice-chairman of the Senate's budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, appeared on TVW's Inside Olympia program Thursday to discuss the state's budget situation following the release of a new revenue forecast. Check it out below.

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Shortfall at $2.6 billion: 'Everything's on the table'

11/19/2009

Below you'll find video of Sen. Rodney Tom, a Bellevue Democrat and vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Ross Hunter, a Medina Democrat and chairman of the House Finance Committee, holding court with reporters after the adoption of a new revenue forecast this morning. The new forecast pushed the state's budget shortfall to $2.6 billion. More...

Live blogging the new revenue forecast

11/19/2009

10:32 UPDATE: Victor Moore, the state's budget director, says the budget shortfall has now swelled to $2.6 billion. Asked about how the hole may be plugged, Moore said, "I don't quite see the path yet. We're working on it." "It's getting to be kind of numbing." More...

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