Audits
Washington's budget more than doubled in a decade, outpacing population and inflation
Version 7. 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.
- Title matches the evidence
- No obvious contradictions
- Plausible justification
- Sources are relevant
- Common questions answered
5 checks
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Pass Title matches the evidence
Title 'Washington's budget more than doubled in a decade, outpacing population and inflation' is backed by evidence: general-fund appropriations up 114.6% (2013-15 to 2023-25), all-funds up 106.9% (also more than doubled), and population times inflation up 52%. Rating True matches.
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Pass No obvious contradictions
Finding True agrees with answer and conclusion. Key point 2 ($51.5B benchmark, $21.2B gap vs $72.7B actual) and the conclusion's 45% share are arithmetically consistent. Evidence 4 (5.39% share, 141.1% vs 166.2% from 2005-07) matches key point 4. Objection 8 labels $33.6B as first-enacted and $33.9B as final, so no conflict.
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Pass Plausible justification
v7 conclusion reads: "population and inflation are factors, but population times consumer prices grew 52%, so they explain less than half (about 45%) of the dollar increase." 52/114.6 = 45.4%, and the dollar version (17.6 of 38.8 billion, ~45%) also agrees. The v6 'well under half' wording is replaced. The rating is justified by every measure agreeing and by the income comparison.
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Pass Sources are relevant
All 17 sources are on topic by name, title, description and role: legislative budget notes, ERFC revenue, OFM population, BLS/BEA/FRED price and income data, NASBO state data, OSPI school finance, the claim provenance release, opposing-view and critic pieces, and Washington Research Council tallies.
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Pass Common questions answered
Eight objections are present, each with a response that addresses its question, including the 2013-15 base, McCleary, CPI, share of income, Medicaid, H.R. 1, revenue, and critics' numbers.
Coverage: Read the full article payload (title, claim, finding, answer, key points, conclusion, evidence, objections, sources, changelog) from the get_node_for_audit result; sources judged by name/title/description/role only, per First Look's rules; no source snapshots read and no web access.