About 50 lobbyists and nearly a dozen staff are gathered in the Senate Ways & Means Committee now, waiting for Senate Democrats to return to the room so they can get started on amendments to the Senate's two-year spending plan.
The tone is light-hearted, except for a recent blast from Sen. Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, who walked by and said that the Governor's recent threat to veto a provision to lay off teachers based on the most recent evaluation of "unsatisfactory" (if the bill, ESHB 1443, passes) would cost them valuable votes for the budget.
It seems pretty clear that lawmakers won't finish up by next Friday (or Sunday, the regularly scheduled end date) based on the fact that both the House and Senate adjourned today around noon and aren't back until Monday, April 18 at 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, the House Ways & Means is stoicly working through bills and amendments, mainly on things that have been labeled NTIB. More later.
Updates on the Legislature and state government from the Washington State School Directors' Association.
