The Associated Press
OLYMPIA — With lawmakers racing to negotiate a budget and tax package as well as education reform, Gov. Chris Gregoire said today it’s possible she’ll need to call a special session to extend the talks beyond Thursday’s deadline for adjournment.
Gregoire said majority Democrats in the House and Senate still have a lot of work to do, and she won’t know until Thursday whether they’ll be close enough to finish before midnight, the scheduled adjournment time.
“What’s more important to me is that they get the job done, and they get it done well,” she said.
The House and Senate have both passed budget proposals and tax packages, but now must reconcile differences while solving a $2.8 billion deficit in the state budget through June 2011.
Early today, the House approved a $680 million tax package that would shrink exemptions, collect more money from smokers and service businesses, and extend sales tax to new types of purchases.
It was significantly smaller than the $890 million tax blueprint approved by the Senate.
The House package also avoids a general sales tax increase.
The Senate has called for an increase but Gregoire said, “it’s the wrong time in an economic recovery to assess a sales tax.”
House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, acknowledged it will be tough to meet the Thursday deadline “unless we come to some pretty quick agreements on substantively different revenue packages.”
“It’s going to be hard,” she said.
Gregoire also vowed today to keep lawmakers in Olympia until they resolve their debate over school reform.
“The one thing I do know we need to do before anyone goes home is reforms in the K-12 system,” Gregoire said. “We’re going to have to make that happen, not only for Race to the Top, but even more importantly to me, for the success of the children.”
The Senate and the House had yet to reach a compromise on this session’s two big education reform measures.
The first issue is how the state should prepare to apply for a piece of the $4.35 billion the federal government wants to split among states involved in education reform. The second is what should be the next step toward revising the way in which Washington state pays for basic education.
Lawmakers in the House say the two issues should not be separated. They have passed a bill that combines elements of both ideas.
The Senate has approved the reforms associated with the federal Race to the Top competition but want to hold off on education finance reform.
Lawmakers in both houses said negotiations continue.
