We document public meetings with transcripts, summaries, and structured data. Every promise, every projection, every commitment — searchable and trackable across years of decisions.
Property taxes. Sales taxes. Excise taxes. Utility taxes. Business taxes. We track every revenue source — what was projected, what was actually collected, and which policies created the authority to collect it.
Budgets show intent. Actual spending shows reality. We track both — and connect spending back to the meetings where it was authorized and the promises that were made.
As laws are being discussed at the state and local level, we track the proposals, the promises made about their impact, and the actual outcomes once they're implemented. Every bill, every amendment, every fiscal note — connected to the meetings where they were debated and the budgets they affected.
Some stories require connecting years of meetings, policies, and budget decisions. Our investigations trace how individual decisions accumulate into outcomes nobody voted for.
By Brian Gass, Executive Director, Real Housing Reform Initiative On March 30, 2026, Governor Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 6346 into law, creating Washington State's first ...
By Brian Gass, Executive Director, Real Housing Reform Initiative In 2021, Washington State passed a 7% capital gains tax on profits over $250,000 from the sale of stocks, bonds, ...
By Brian Gass, Executive Director, Real Housing Reform Initiative In May 2025, Washington State passed the largest tax increase in state history: a $9.4 billion revenue package ...
By Brian Gass, Executive Director, Real Housing Reform Initiative When most Washington residents think about state taxes, they think about the ongoing debates over income taxes, ...
An investigation into how Washington's landmark education funding case became the state's largest property tax increase—and why schools still say they're broke The Constitutional ...
Real Record™ tracks what governments say about taxes, what they promise the money will fund, and what they actually deliver. Our coverage includes:
