Welcome to the Washington Prosperity Project, a GROW/WashACE Partnership

The Washington Prosperity Project is a partnership of Enterprise Washington, the Association of Washington Business, the Washington Roundtable and the Washington Research Council. We support actions in state government that seek to bolster our state economy and foster new opportunities for growth in the private sector. 

Washington Prosperity Project Partners

- Enterprise Washington

- Association of Washington Business

- Washington Roundtable

- Washington Research Council

Shifting to a Sustainable Budget

This is a very good (and very important) video from Sen. Jim Kastama on the budget crisis we face in Washington state. Sen. Kastama clearly lays out the problem and offers long-term solutions so we won't continue to have budget shortfalls year after year. One of his major solutions is for legislators to enact long-term reforms, which we all must encourage them to be bold in doing as the legislative session gets underway.

2012 Washington Prosperity Project Legislative Priorities

The following is the Washington Prosperity Project's 2012 policy agenda.

We have five priorities:

• Prioritize state spending and ensure the state budget is sustainable
  • State leaders must develop a budget based on current revenue before considering new revenue options. 
  • To ensure sustainability, leaders should look at the impact of their budget decisions over a six-year period.
  • The final budget must rebuild adequate reserves and prioritize funding for services that will drive economic growth – namely education and infrastructure.
• Ensure business costs and regulatory policies are competitive
  • Washington consistently ranks as an expensive state in which to do business. In 2012, at a minimum, lawmakers must protect business cost improvements enacted in 2011 and avoid increasing other business costs.
• Invest in an efficient and safe transportation system
  • Our state's transportation infrastructure is in dire need of new investment.
  • Lawmakers should pursue a statewide transportation investment that will support jobs, commerce and economic growth. 
• Support student achievement in our public education system
  • The most important commitment our state can make is to provide a quality education for our young people, ensuring every student graduates from high school and college career-ready.
  • Lawmakers and education leaders must take action to raise student achievement. Lawmakers should:
    • Streamline state education governance to establish clear prekindergarten to grade 13 education standards, goals and performance measures.
    • Implement an educator evaluation system that incorporates multiple measures of student growth and enact performance-based policies that drive decisions regarding teacher placement.
    • Accelerate student performance in math and science. 
• Ensure our higher education institutions are prepared to develop talent and foster innovation
  • Lawmakers must place greater priority on postsecondary education. They must work to increase publican and private investments and provide institutions with the latitude necessary to remain competitive.

The Eastside Chamber Coalition has also recently developed their 2012 policy agenda. To view it, please click here (PDF).

The Coalition for a Fiscally Sound America

Our nation is at an economic crossroads. With our national debt rapidly increasing as a share of our total economy and our nation's economic growth stagnated, we can no longer wait for the next generation to make the tough decisions necessary to resolve our fiscal issues.

The Coalition for a Fiscally Sound America’s mission is to enact into law a deficit reduction package that contains both pro-growth tax reform and federal spending and entitlement reform sufficient to stabilize the debt and begin its reduction as a percentage of the Gross National Product (GDP). 

• We think it is necessary to make more Americans aware of the scope and depth of the nation’s fiscal dilemma and help them better understand the causes, effects and potential solutions.

• We seek to motivate Americans to take action and communicate with their elected officials.

• We want our nation’s political leadership to enact, as soon as possible, both spending and tax reform sufficient to stabilize our national debt, revive our economy and return prosperity to America.

For more information, please visit www.fiscallysoundamerica.com