Morning Fizz
"Not What Most People Have Been Expecting"
Caffeinated news & gossip. Your daily Morning Fizz.
1. As we noted yesterday , the Redistricting Commission will unveil its proposal for Washington State's revised US Congressional District map, which will include the new 10th District Washington State picked up thanks to 2010's census data.
How will the new map affect the crew of candidates running for Democratic US Rep. Jay Inslee's open seat in the current Northwest Puget Sound 1st District—Northwest Seattle and the suburbs to Seattle's north and east including Shoreline, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Bothell, Kirkland and Redmond along with Bainbridge Island and part of the Kitsap Peninsula?
Some of the liberal hopefuls, such as Darcy Burner, Roger Goodman, and Laura Ruderman, may land in Republican US Rep. Dave Reichert's 8th Congressional District, which currently covers more of the traditional Microsoft suburbs and the more conservative turf to the east and south, instead.
How will the proposal affect US Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA, 3) in the state's southwest district between Vancouver and Olympia; will the new lines take in more liberal Olympia turf and boost the chances of her Democratic rival Denny Heck?[pullquote]And then he breaks out the data to show a 13.5 percent drop in state employees over the last decade.[/pullquote]
2. The AP reports that Washington State's minimum wage is increasing by .37 to $9.04 an hour starting on January 1. Washington State's current minimum wage, $8.67, is already the highest state minimum wage in the country (San Francisco's is higher).
3. State house budget chair State Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48, Medina) crunched some data on state employees (this it what wonks like Hunter, who also reads Bond Trader in his spare time, do over the holidays) and writes of the results on his blog, "not what most people have been expecting."
Indeed, Hunter begins his post this way:
And then he breaks out the data to show a 13.5 percent drop in state employees over the last decade (and a 7.3 percent straight decline when you don't adjust for population growth).
Hunter shied away from the "difficult" task of comparing compensation, but notes that early last year the Seattle Times found that “Overall, lower-wage state workers tended to earn more than their nonstate counterparts, while higher-paid professionals made more in the nonstate sector.”
And, a bit wonky ourselves, last week, we looked at a new set of data from the Washington State Human Resource Director and found that wages for state employees have remained flat and then face planted negative three percent in the last three years.
4. New Year's resolution: Get Fizz up earlier.
1. As we noted yesterday , the Redistricting Commission will unveil its proposal for Washington State's revised US Congressional District map, which will include the new 10th District Washington State picked up thanks to 2010's census data.
How will the new map affect the crew of candidates running for Democratic US Rep. Jay Inslee's open seat in the current Northwest Puget Sound 1st District—Northwest Seattle and the suburbs to Seattle's north and east including Shoreline, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Bothell, Kirkland and Redmond along with Bainbridge Island and part of the Kitsap Peninsula?
Some of the liberal hopefuls, such as Darcy Burner, Roger Goodman, and Laura Ruderman, may land in Republican US Rep. Dave Reichert's 8th Congressional District, which currently covers more of the traditional Microsoft suburbs and the more conservative turf to the east and south, instead.
How will the proposal affect US Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA, 3) in the state's southwest district between Vancouver and Olympia; will the new lines take in more liberal Olympia turf and boost the chances of her Democratic rival Denny Heck?[pullquote]And then he breaks out the data to show a 13.5 percent drop in state employees over the last decade.[/pullquote]
2. The AP reports that Washington State's minimum wage is increasing by .37 to $9.04 an hour starting on January 1. Washington State's current minimum wage, $8.67, is already the highest state minimum wage in the country (San Francisco's is higher).
Washington's minimum wage is adjusted each year for inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for the past 12 months, which is up more than 4 percent. The yearly recalculation is required by Initiative 688, which was approved by Washington voters in 1998.
3. State house budget chair State Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48, Medina) crunched some data on state employees (this it what wonks like Hunter, who also reads Bond Trader in his spare time, do over the holidays) and writes of the results on his blog, "not what most people have been expecting."
Indeed, Hunter begins his post this way:
I’ve answered a lot of mail in the past few weeks and one theme that threads through many of the emails is that the number of state employees is increasing rapidly, that they are paid way too much, and that their benefits are vastly greater than private sector workers. The conclusion is that we should be able to solve our entire budget problem with small adjustments in compensation.
And then he breaks out the data to show a 13.5 percent drop in state employees over the last decade (and a 7.3 percent straight decline when you don't adjust for population growth).
Hunter shied away from the "difficult" task of comparing compensation, but notes that early last year the Seattle Times found that “Overall, lower-wage state workers tended to earn more than their nonstate counterparts, while higher-paid professionals made more in the nonstate sector.”
And, a bit wonky ourselves, last week, we looked at a new set of data from the Washington State Human Resource Director and found that wages for state employees have remained flat and then face planted negative three percent in the last three years.
4. New Year's resolution: Get Fizz up earlier.
