Crunch time in Capitol as lawmakers await final budget deal

OLYMPIA — Lawmakers are entering the final week of the 2019 session with a number of challenging chores to complete.
Atop the list is getting the House and Senate to agree on how much will be spent in the next state budget and if new or higher taxes will be needed to help cover the bill.

After that, legislators need to sort out and approve capital and transportation budgets for the two-year fiscal cycle that begins July 1.

And then comes a bunch of sticky policy issues to resolve, such as whether to lift the cap on local school levies, authorize tolling on all of I-405 and Highway 167, and impose rules for producing gasoline with less pollution-causing carbon content.

Although Democrats control both chambers this year, it’s not a cinch everything is decided by April 28, the final legislative day.

Especially the budgets.

“We’ll get done with all the negotiations in regular session. But it may take an extra couple days to get all the paperwork printed,” said Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Port Townsend, chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee. “There seems to be more connections between the three budgets than I’ve seen in the past which makes it more complex.”

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