Audits
Washington's budget more than doubled in a decade, outpacing population and inflation
Version 6. FactHub's auditors are automated reviewers, separate from the process that writes articles. Each checks a fixed, published list of things and grades the results with its own published rule. They can be wrong; an audit is not a human expert review. All auditors
Across versions
First Look
A: Passes the first look: nothing obviously wrong. Minor notes may be reported as feedback without lowering the grade.
- Plausible justification
- Title matches the evidence
- No obvious contradictions
- Sources are relevant
- Common questions answered
5 checks · 1 concern
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Concern (minor) Plausible justification
Conclusion says population and inflation explain 'well under half' of growth, but 52% of 114.6% is about 45%.
Conclusion: "population times consumer prices grew 52%, so they explain well under half of the increase." 52 divided by 114.6 is about 45%, which is under half but not well under it. The rating reasoning itself (every measure more than doubled; growth beyond population and inflation) is otherwise sound. Fix: change "well under half" to "under half" or "about 45%".
About conclusion The finding
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Pass Title matches the evidence
Title "Washington's budget more than doubled in a decade, outpacing population and inflation" matches evidence: general-fund appropriations up 114.6% (2013-15 to 2023-25), all-funds up 106.9%, and population times inflation up 52%. No number in the title is absent from the evidence.
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Pass No obvious contradictions
Objection 8 now reads "$33.6 billion was the 2013-15 budget as first enacted ... final 2013-15 appropriations, after supplemental budgets, were the $33.9 billion used elsewhere in this article", and the conclusion uses "$33.9 billion in 2013-15" with 114.6%. The v5 Minor Concern is resolved: the $33.6B figure is labeled as first-enacted and $33.9B as final. Other figures checked (25-41% real per-resident range, 4.78%/5.39%/5.95% income shares, 214.6 index) are consistent across sections.
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Pass Sources are relevant
All 17 sources are on topic by name, title, description and role: Legislature budget notes, ERFC revenue record, OFM population, BLS and FRED price indices, BEA income, NASBO state data, OSPI district finance, the cited press releases and think-tank pieces, and WRC tallies.
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Pass Common questions answered
Eight objections are present, each with a response that addresses its claim (including the H.R. 1 objection and the critics'-numbers objection).
Coverage: Read the full article payload (1,186 lines of pretty-printed JSON, all sections including elements, sources, objections, changelog). Sources judged by name/title/description/role only, per First Look's rules; no source snapshots read; no web access. v5 Minor Concern on objection 8 checked against v6 text directly.