We all suspected it would come to this. Legislators have not reached agreement on the state budget for the biennium beginning July 1, 2015, less than five weeks from now. Austin Jenkins lays out what happens next.
The governor’s office will start preparing for a government shutdown July 1 and budget negotiations will continue.
There’s another deadline to consider. Melissa Santos writes,
So now, as legislators prepare for a second overtime session, their leaders have set a new deadline of sorts. They want to finish negotiations before thousands of golf fans begin to arrive in University Place in the middle of June.
“Right now there’s a desire to get done by June 11 so we don’t hit the traffic Armageddon of the U.S. Open, and the lack of hotel rooms in Olympia,” said Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond and the Senate’s chief budget writer. “So that’s applying pressure.”
His House counterpart agrees.
State Rep. Ross Hunter, the chief budget writer in the House, said getting a budget passed before the U.S. Open is a priority for him, mainly due to his concerns over finding lodging for all 147 members of the Legislature during the tournament.
