Washington Considers Special Session

I missed this post from late Friday by Jordan Schrader at The News Tribune.

A week ago, Gov. Chris Gregoire's aides were preparing for across-the-board cuts if Congress didn't come through with $480 million in state budget aid that is looking less and less likely. On Thursday, she told KOMO Radio she would consider a special session of the Legislature.

What changed? Nothing except details continuing to emerge about the effects of the "blunt instrument" of across-the-board, 3-5 percent cuts, said Gregoire's budget director, Marty Brown.

He goes on to write that the governor will be contacting legislative leaders early this week, beginning with Democratic leaders. They're likely to balk, for obvious reasons.

The Olympian thinks something should be done quickly to close the budget gap.

Time is running out. It’s looking less and less likely that Washington will receive the Medicaid dollars, and that’s why it’s imperative that the governor act – now. The state’s reserve account can cover part of the loss, but not every dollar. It’s estimated that the budget is out of balance by about $300 million.

It's getting ugly fast.