After 2 weeks, legislators still not negotiating a budget
What are we paying these people for?
OLYMPIA — You can call them budget talks or you can call them budget briefings.
Just don’t call them negotiations. That’s not what the House and Senate are doing in the 30-day special session that crossed the halfway point this week.
Democratic and Republican envoys from the caucuses in both chambers met for several hours Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss — not negotiate — roughly 830 differences in the two-year spending plans passed by the Democrat-controlled House and Republican-run Senate.
“We’re having conversations. We’re trying to understand each other’s budget,” Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond, chief architect of the Senate budget, said earlier this week. “As we go through and look at the differences, you can very clearly see what each side is doing.”
House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, calls them briefings because, he said, “We’re not making decisions.”
Those involved agree on one thing. They are asking the state’s chief economist for a revenue forecast. It’s expected Monday, a month earlier than usual.
“We think the forecast is going to be positive and it will give us more money to bridge the gap,” Hill said.
Sullivan said Democrats “don’t expect any miracles” and are focused on getting face-to-face negotiations under way.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20150515/NEWS01/150519382