The Blog

Victor Moore, Director of Office of Financial Management Victor Moore, Director of Office of Financial Management

01/20/09

Two years ago, Washington state voters passed Initiative 960. The measure requires that 10-year financial projections be prepared for each legislative bill with a tax or fee.

With the Legislature having convened Jan.12, the state Office of Financial Management is ready to review each bill introduced this session. A team of readers will send bills with taxes or fees to analysts who write the projections. The projections are reviewed and revised, if necessary, every time the bill is amended.

Last year, OFM staff reviewed 3,148 bills to determine whether they included taxes or fees. Of that total, 132, or about 4 percent, were in this category. And of that number, 14 were passed by the Legislature and sent to Gov. Gregoire for her signature.

If you would like to receive notifications, or "press releases," for these bills, follow this link to subscribe: http://listserv.wa.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TAX-AND-FEE-PROPOSALS&A=1. As a subscriber, you will be notified each time a bill with a tax or fee is introduced, scheduled for public hearing, or passed out of committee or by either house of the Legislature.

If you have questions about how this service works, click on http://www.ofm.wa.gov/tax/faq.asp for more information.