Motto | Improving lives through market solutions |
---|---|
Mission | To promote sound public policy based on free-market solutions [1] |
Chair | Kevin Bouchey |
President and CEO | Michael Gallagher |
Staff | 25 |
Budget | $3.4 million (2021) [2] |
Formerly called | Washington Institute Foundation [3] |
Location | |
Website | www |
The Washington Policy Center (WPC) is a think tank based in the state of Washington. [4] [5] The organization's stated mission is "to promote sound public policy based on free-market solutions." [1] It has a statewide staff of 25 and offices in Seattle, Olympia, Spokane, and Richland. [6] [7] The organization is divided into eight research centers: Agriculture, Education, Environment, Government Reform, Health Care, Small Business, Transportation, and Worker Rights. WPC is an affiliate of the State Policy Network, a nonprofit organization that serves as a network for conservative and libertarian think tanks focusing on state-level policy in the United States. [8]
WPC operates a free public-service website, WashingtonVotes.org, which tracks what bills state legislators introduce and support. [9] WashingtonVotes.org provides a roll call service to state media outlets while the legislature is in session. [10] [11]
The organization uncovered an error in Sound Transit's defense in a $500 million class-action lawsuit filed by taxpayers regarding the collection of car tab tax charges. The state Attorney General's office acknowledged the error and declined to take Sound Transit's side in the case, pulling out just one hour prior to a scheduled hearing before the State Supreme Court. [12] The constitutionality of the car-tab collection levied by Sound Transit was upheld by the State Supreme Court in February 2020. [13]
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan, is the largest U.S. state-based free market think tank in the United States. The Mackinac Center conducts policy research and educational programs. The Center sponsors MichiganVotes.org, an online legislative voting record database which provides a non-partisan summary of every bill and vote in the Michigan legislature. Mackinac Center scholars generally recommend lower taxes, reduced regulatory authority for state agencies, right-to-work laws, school choice, and enhanced protection of individual property rights; they avoid socially conservative issues such as reproductive or marriage rights.
Timothy Donald Eyman is an American anti-tax activist and businessman.
The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state, King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, and is considered part of the greater Puget Sound region. The United States Census Bureau defines the metropolitan area as the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA metropolitan statistical area. With an estimated population of 4,102,400 as of 2022, it is the 15th-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States and home to over half of Washington's population.
Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It operates the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, regional Sounder commuter rail, and Sound Transit Express bus service. The agency also coordinates the regional ORCA fare card system, which is also used by local transit operators. In 2019, Sound Transit services carried a total of 48 million passengers and averaged over 161,000 riders on weekdays.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit libertarian think tank founded by the political writer Fred L. Smith Jr. on March 9, 1984, in Washington, D.C., to advance principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty. CEI focuses on a number of regulatory policy issues, including business and finance, labor, technology and telecommunications, transportation, food and drug regulation, and energy and environment in which they have promoted climate change denial. Kent Lassman is the current President and CEO.
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation, operating as the Freedom Foundation, is a free market conservative think tank founded in the state of Washington. Freedom Foundation has offices in Washington, Oregon, California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. In 2021, they announced their national expansion into all 50 states. The organization is registered with the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Frank Vana Chopp is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 43rd district since 1995. His district covers the neighborhoods of Montlake, Fremont, Wallingford, the University District, Madison Park, and part of Capitol Hill, all of which are in Seattle. Chopp served as Speaker of the House from 2002 to 2019.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a liberal or progressive nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. The Brennan Center advocates for public policy positions including raising the minimum wage, opposing voter ID laws, and calling for public funding of elections. The organization opposed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofits.
The Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) is a liberal think tank based in Redmond, Washington, founded in 2003 and incorporated in 2005. It uses technology, public policy research, and political advocacy to advance progressive causes in the Pacific Northwest region as well as across the United States. It describes itself as "a netroots powered strategy center working to raise America's quality of life through innovative research and imaginative advocacy."
The East Link Extension, also known as the 2 Line, is a future light rail line serving the Eastside region of the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It will be part of Sound Transit's Link light rail system, running 18 miles (29 km) from west to east and serving 12 stations in Downtown Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue, and Redmond. The first section of the 2 Line, between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology stations, is scheduled to open in 2024. It is planned to be followed in 2025 by an extension east to Downtown Redmond and west to Seattle, where it will continue into the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel and share stations with the 1 Line through to Lynnwood City Center station.
Robert Watson Ferguson is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 18th attorney general of Washington. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016 and 2020. Prior to serving as Attorney General, Ferguson was a member of the King County Council.
Sound Transit's Link light rail in Washington state consists of two lines, Central Link and Tacoma Link. A 21-mile line was approved by a ballot measure in 1996. However, a series of financial missteps and planning errors resulted in escalating costs and delayed construction. The 21-mile line was shortened to a 14-mile line running from Westlake Center in downtown Seattle south to SEA-TAC Airport, and opened in 2009. Federal grants received in 2005 funded a northern extension to the University of Washington in 2016.
The 2009 Washington Referendum 71 (R-71) legalized domestic partnership in Washington state, the first statewide referendum in the United States that extended to LGBT people the rights and responsibility of domestic partnership. The bill had passed State Legislature, and it was signed into law by the Governor in May 2009, but opponents gathered enough signatures to put the measure before the voters, who returned ballots by mail over three weeks ending on November 3, 2009, approving the measure 53% to 47%. The new law went into effect 30 days later, on December 3, 2009.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the U.S. state of Washington have evolved significantly since the late 20th century. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1976. LGBT people are fully protected from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations; the state enacting comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2012, and same-sex couples are allowed to adopt. Conversion therapy on minors has also been illegal since 2018.
Frederick Kemper Freeman Jr. is the active chairman and CEO of Kemper Development Company, which built and operates Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place, and Lincoln Square, all located in Bellevue, Washington. Kemper represents the third generation of the Freeman family, who have been involved in the growth of the Bellevue community since 1897. He is a former Republican member of the Washington State House of Representatives from the 48th district and publicly active in conversations about traffic and transportation in Bellevue.
The California Policy Center(CPC) is a conservative and libertarian public policy think tank located in California. Based in Tustin, the organization specializes in union policy, pension reform, spending reform, and school choice. CPC was founded in 2010 by Marc Bucher and Edward Ring. It is a member of the State Policy Network, an association of state-based conservative and libertarian think tanks.
Sound Transit 3, abbreviated as ST3, was a ballot measure during the November 2016 elections in Seattle, Washington, proposing an expansion of the regional public transit system. The measure was proposed by Sound Transit, which was established by a similar initiative passed in 1996 and expanded by the Sound Transit 2 vote in 2008, who have operated regional transit systems in the Seattle metropolitan area since 1999. On November 8, 2016, Sound Transit 3 was approved by over 54 percent of voters in the Puget Sound region; voters in Pierce County rejected the measure, but the measure passed in King and Snohomish counties, and had an overall majority.
The Public Records Act (PRA) is a law of the U.S. state of Washington requiring public access to all records and materials from state and local agencies. It was originally passed as a ballot initiative by voters in 1972 and revised several times by the state legislature. The definition of public records, especially concerning the state legislature, was subject to several legal challenges in the decades since the law was passed.
Initiative Measure No. 976 (I-976) is a ballot initiative in the U.S. state of Washington that appeared on the ballot on November 5, 2019. The initiative was brought to the state legislature by a petition sponsored by Tim Eyman. The initiative would cap taxes on certain cars at $30 and put an end to transportation benefit districts and other local vehicle taxes. The campaign in favor of the initiative was led by Tim Eyman, Permanent Offense, and Voters Want More Choices, while the campaign against the initiative was led by the Northwest Progressive Institute. Opponents of the initiative fear that its passage would take away money from ongoing transportation projects, including voter-approved measures, such as Sound Transit 3, while supporters claim that the initiative would end assessing practices that they claim are dishonest. The practices include using out-dated fee schedules for assessing vehicles. Unsuccessful attempts were made to require the use of more recent fee schedules in the state legislature.