Governor Jay Inslee called legislators into a 30-day special session beginning this morning, following the 105-day regular session that concluded yesterday without adoption of a 2017-19 state budget. Since 2011, the Legislature has gone into special session each odd-numbered year while completing the difficult task of creating a new two-year budget. As the blog reported, the Senate and House of Representatives each released their operating budget proposals and capital budget proposals in recent weeks, and the chambers will work together to craft a joint budget before the legislative session concludes. While budget negotiations take place during special session, the Governor will sign bills into law that successfully made it through the legislative process and legislative committees will hold periodic work sessions regarding interim planning and other topics.
The Western Legislative Review will continue providing updates from Olympia during special session. You can sign up for email updates from the blog on the right side of this page and you can also follow WWU Government Relations on Twitter here.