After the surplus of $876 million comes a projected deficit of $1.3 billion for 2014-15. That's a small deficit, but also a sign that the state is not necessarily on a sustainable path.

Economic turmoil in Europe could play a huge role in our state budget debate.

Under the 2/3 requirement, if a broad consensus cannot be reached in the Legislature to increase citizens' tax burden, a simple majority of lawmakers can put a tax referendum on the ballot for the voters to consider. This is likely what will occur now that the Governor has indicated she wants a March vote for Washingtonians to consider her half a billion dollar sales tax increase.

State lawmakers and consumers fear rising interest rates, a double dip recession, and continued employment rate stagnation. As the super committee races against the clock, Americans brace for the worst.

Our country cannot afford to continue to carelessly spend while passing trillions in debt to future generations. By utilizing Reality Based Budgeting and making smart decisions based on performance, legislators have the opportunity to dug their way out of the red and save our great, great, grandchildren from shouldering this financial burden.

Just a week after Ohio voters overturned their state's collective bargaining law, things are heating up once again in Wisconsin over that state's similar reform bill.

Michigan directly tackled its pension problem in 1997 by replacing the traditional "defined-benefit" pension plan with a 401(k)-style "defined-contribution" retirement plan for new state employees. The Michigan reforms have been immensely successful. Unfortunately, the story in Illinois is not nearly as encouraging.

On November 8, voters in Ohio overwhelmingly repealed the collective bargaining reforms that were passed by the Legislature earlier this year.  Repealing this reform is bad news for both government employees and taxpayers.  Reality is not negotiable.

The defeat of Proposition 103 suggests that Coloradans feel they haven’t got much for the extra $90,000 per student they’re now spending on a K-12 education.  And it suggests that they might prefer a reform measure that has been proven to both improve academic achievement and save taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

As the federal government drowns in nearly $15 trillion of debt and aggregate state debt exceeds $4 trillion, rising debt issues should not only be a policy platform for politicians. The very fact that elections themselves cost states additional resources should concern constituencies as well; however, determining just what those costs may be is proving difficult despite continuing pushes for budget transparency.