Why a $67 million fine isn't motivating the Legislature to act
Washington state now has racked up $67 million in daily fines over lawmakers' failure to fully fund public schools.
That big-dollar figure hasn’t proven much of a motivator so far. Right now, the Legislature is trudging through a second special session, still unable to agree on a new two-year budget that fixes how the state pays for K-12 education.
The fines started accruing in August 2015, when the state Supreme Court imposed a $100,000 penalty for each day the Legislature failed to come up with a school-funding plan. The high court ordered the Legislature to place the fine money in a separate account to benefit basic education.
That has yet to happen — and it’s unclear whether lawmakers will pay the fine this year, either.
Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/news/politics-government/article155432304.html