Healthy brains AND healthy bodies

Last month we learned that Washington ranks third for healthy brains and that the Seattle-Tacoma area ranks as the 7th smartest metropolitan area in the nation. This week we got another high mark as one of the healthiest states.

America`s Health RankingsTM rated Washington as the 11th healthiest state in the country—up from number 13 last year. The report has tracked the health of the nation for the past 20 years, providing a unique, comprehensive perspective on how the nation - and each state - measures up.

A wide range of factors are taken into account to determine a state’s health ranking including infant mortality rates, deaths from heart disease and cancer, smoking and obesity rates, education, pollution and violent crime.

These “health determinants” are good indicators of whether the health status of a state’s residents is likely to improve or grow worse.

Our state scored well because, among other things, only 15.7 percent of Washingtonians smoke – a pretty significant difference from 21.4 percent just ten years ago. Also, the percentage of children in poverty declined from 19.1 percent to 13.2 percent during the past five years, and the infant mortality rate in Washington is 4.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.

But if we want to get a better ranking next year, it’s time to start burning calories and eating healthy foods – in only 20 years the prevalence of obesity among Washingtonians has increased from 9.4 percent to 26.0 percent.

Vermont ranked first this year thanks in part to its low rate of obesity, high number of doctors and a low rate of child poverty, and Mississippi came in last for the ninth consecutive year.

Go to this interactive map to see how other states ranked.

The numbers

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council adjourned a short while ago. The news was as not-good as expected.

Some key numbers:

• $760 million: Revenue projections are down another $760 million from September's forecast.
  
• $4.6 billion: Overall, the revenue forecast is down $4.6 billion since February of last year.
• $28 billion: The state can expect to collect about $28 billion for the 2009-2011 biennium.
• 9.8 percent: Next spring unemployment will peak at nearly 10 percent statewide.
  
• $2.6 billion: The total budget hole is now $2.6 billion if you account for both declining revenues and increased caseloads.
  

For more information, check out ERFC's press release and Chief Economist Arun Raha's (lengthy, er, comprehensive) presentation. You can also read the press release from the Office of Financial Management.

Lawmakers bracing for deficit to top $2 billion

If you're a legislative junkie, your eyes will be glued to the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council meeting this morning at 10 a.m.

Washington's economy, like most other states, is struggling. Last session legislators approved more than $3 billion in cuts to the two-year 2009-2011 operating budget. It's now appearing they'll have to cut an additional $2 billion (or more) to make sure we break even at the end of 2011. The ERFC report will provide more specific information about how much of a shortfall we're looking at.

This information is crucial to helping the governor and lawmakers as they start drafting budgets. Governor Gregoire will be the first to release her budget, sometime in December.

It's sobering when you realize what it takes to cut more than $5 billion from our two-year budget. As Rep. Reuven Carlyle pointed out from a presentation given by the Office of Financial Management, you could eliminate all state funding for the University of Washington, Washington State University as well as Central, Eastern, Western and the Evergreen State Colleges, and cut all state funding for the Department of Health and that only gets you $1.53 billion.

Tune in to TVW at 10 to watch the meeting. We'll post an update later today. Following the meeting, TVW will air an interview with Rep. Ross Hunter who sits on the ERFC and is chair of the House Finance Committee.

SR 520 gets an A+ from lawmakers

That's the option the SR 520 Legislative Workgroup voted 10-2 to endorse at today's meeting.

Ten lawmakers voted in favor of the option that will result in a wider Montlake interchange and a second north-south drawbridge over the Montlake Cut. The two legislators who opposed this option were House Speaker Frank Chopp and Rep. Jamie Pedersen, both representatives of Seattle's Montlake area.

The Seattle Times just posted a summary of the meeting. You can also check here for a look at the materials from today's meeting and background on the various design options considered by the workgroup.

UPDATE: Rep. Ross Hunter provides a bit of background on where we've been with this process and what's next, both in terms of the bridge design and a tolling policy. He writes:

This is progress. Incremental, painfully slow, torturous progress, but progress nonetheless. Our next challenge will be to get the bill implementing these recommendations passed in the 2010 legislative session. This will be difficult, but I look at it as work to get done. We are ready to move forward on the project and the construction jobs are desperately needed in today’s economy.

Where, oh where, can we find $1.7 billion?

With the start of the 2010 legislative session just a couple months away, discussions are definitely heating up about how to handle a $1.7 billion budget shortfall (thanks in large part to continually lagging sales tax revenues and increased caseloads for state services).

Legislators already cut more than $3 billion in our budget this past session and finding another $1.7 billion in savings is not an easy task.

Rep. Reuven Carlyle posted his thoughts and puts $1.7 billion in context:

To put it in perspective, how big is $1.7 billion?

Here are three symbolic but legitimate examples of public services and programs that add up to about $1.7 billion:

Example one:
We could close all 34 community and technical colleges statewide that serve 470,000 students: $1.4 billion
Close Department of Commerce: $103 million
Close Department of Revenue: $218 million
Total: $1.72 billion

Example two:
Eliminate all state funding for the University of Washington, Washington State University: $1 billion
Eliminate all state funding for Central, Eastern, Western and the Evergreen State College: $337 million
Eliminate all state funding for Department of Health: $193 million
Total: $1.53 billion

Example three:
Close the Department of Corrections: $1.6 billion. (How’s that for perspective?)

Nothing is decided yet, but it's clear that more cuts are coming to programs people care about. Earlier this week we pointed out concerns about potential cuts to early learning programs for low-income children. Talks are underway about closing corrections facilities.

For helpful background about the budget and some of the not-so-great choices facing legislators, check out this presentation from the Office of Financial Management. It has some great information. For example - did you know that $21.6 billion of our $31 billion is protected by constitutional or federal mandates? That means the $1.7 billion we have to cut must come from a tiny $9.3 billion slice of the budget pie.

And don't forget your role in all this. Your legislator would love to answer your questions and hear about your ideas and priorities. Send a note or call. Really. What else do you have to do on a rainy weekend?

The state WorkSource centers: One-stop job shopping

For a good amount of Americans, it’s tough these days trying to land the right job. But thanks to a state and federally funded job-search assistance service, some are finding it a little easier.

The WorkSource centers located around the state have helped unemployment-insurance claimants become as much as 37 percent more likely to find work than those who didn’t receive the services. What’s more, those who used WorkSource job services were on pace to earn as much as $3000 a year more than job seekers who didn’t visit WorkSource.

The results of the study were announced yesterday at the Renton WorkSource Center, where Rep. Steve Conway joined Karen Lee, the Commissioner of the state Employment Security Department, and successful WorkSource job-seekers.


WorkSource is a partnership of Employment Security, other state agencies, local governments, colleges and nonprofit organizations that work together to provide free employment and training services to job seekers and businesses. More than 270,000 people in Washington received assistance from WorkSource in 2008.

“In a tight labor market, these WorkSource centers are valuable resources,” said Conway who chairs the House Commerce and Labor Committee. “It’s been our goal to create these centers as ‘one-stops’ to meet the needs of both the unemployed, those looking to return to school or gain new skills, and for employers looking to fill jobs.”

WorkSource centers can help job-seekers:

• Find job openings
• Learn strategies for finding a job
• Get job referrals and job search assistance
• Get help preparing your résumé and getting ready for job interviews
• Post your résumé online for employers to see
• Share job-search strategies with other job seekers (job club)
• Assess your skills and get career guidance
• Get referred to a training program
• Learn how much jobs pay and what jobs are in demand

Each WorkSource Center has a resource room for job seekers with:

• Computers with Internet access
• Telephones
• Fax Machine
• Copy Machine
• Video Viewing Stations

Call or visit a WorkSource Center for more information.

For more information, visit a local WorkSource career center or read about it online at Go2WorkSource.com.

To read the full report, click here.

Budget could cut kids from health care and early learning programs

In cutting $9 billion from the state budget this past session, lawmakers took nearly $12 million from the Department of Early Learning, 8.8% of the agency's total state funding.

Because federal funding helped make up some of the shortfall, children were spared the effects and the cuts went primarily towards materials and resources for parents and care providers.

It's estimated that legislators will have to slice yet another $1.8 billion budget from the 2009-2100 budget they passed in April. This time, however, children will certainly feel the impact, according to Paul Nyhan at Thrive by Five.

In preparing her new budget proposal, the Governor has asked state agencies to submit recommendations on how to make additional budget cuts. The Department of Early Learning was asked to find $1.9 million in reductions.

This is tough for an agency where 92% of their state funding goes directly to providing early learning for low-income children through the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), our state version of Head Start. Nyhan references a memo from the Washington State Association of Head Start & ECEAP which spells out what the additional cuts would mean:

DEL's proposed $1.9 million in reductions:

• Reductions to ECEAP ($761k), which would result in the elimination of 100 ECEAP slots
• Elimination of state funding for the Career and Wage Ladder ($750k)
• Reduction of state funding to Child Care Resource and Referral Network ($425k)
• The letter also notes an “offsetting error” in the ECEAP budget bill proviso amount in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, stating that the amount was $818,000 too high.

Additional possible cuts to other programs affecting children include:

• Cutting Apple Health eligibility from 300% FPL to 205% FPL
  
• Eliminating funding for medical interpreters
• Eliminating Maternity Support Services

These are only a small sample of the tough budget decisions facing legislators when they return to Olympia in January. The Governor will be first to present a budget proposal, due in December, and you can monitor her office's work here.