It has now been 41 days since the Washington State Supreme Court issued an order fining the state $100,000 per day until the state legislature funds education in a manner that is consistent with the equal protections portions of the State Constitution. The legislature has not even been called back into session to deal with the problem. See this story, which says that no progress will be made until the partisan legislative caucuses are in agreement about a solution.

Washington state has been using top-two starting in 2008. Advocates of the top-two system have disseminated op-eds in several publications, all of which praise the top-two system for creating legislatures that are able to function effectively. But these opinion pieces never mention Washington state; instead they focus solely on California, where there is no legislative gridlock anymore because Democrats control both houses of the legislature with substantial majorities and the budget can be approved by majority vote.