As predicted, lawmakers failed to reach an agreement by midnight, April 10, pushing the Legislature into overtime - again.
A little after midnight, the Governor announced to the media that she would be calling another special session immediately.
While constitutionally the Governor can't limit the topics or the time to less than 30 days, Gov. Chris Gregoire pointedly said that she was giving lawmakers more time to pass the supplemental operating and capital budgets, along with a limited number of policy bills. The latter includes one that has eaten up most of the time today and is still in dispute - what to do with K-12 health benefits system.
The details aren't on paper yet, but the rumor basics are that school districts and their benefit providers will need to report certain data to the Health Care Authority and the Office of Insurance Commissioner; failure by school districts to report would default employees into the PEBB.
The big hold up is over what "trigger" to use on districts that fail to meet the four benchmarks:
1. Offer a high deductible with an Health Savings Account;
2. Offer a plan where premiums aren't more than the state PEBB plan;
3. Ensure that premiums for family coverage are not more than three times the employee-only coverage; and
4. Complete a competitive procurement.
Negotiations continue ...
Updates on the Legislature and state government from the Washington State School Directors' Association.
