With last-minute deal on school levies, Legislature adjourns
OLYMPIA — They almost didn’t make it out on time.
But bleary-eyed state lawmakers trudged across the finish line of their 2019 session moments before midnight Sunday after Democrats in the House and Senate ended their feuding on a bill allowing school districts to collect more money from local property tax levies.
The disagreement, which centered on how much to ease the levy cap, was holding up action on a new state budget and threatening to force the Legislature into a special session.
But around 10:30 p.m., a deal came together with the assistance of House Republicans that cleared the way for passage of the so-called levy lift as well as the budget and a couple other bills before adjournment.
It was a somewhat fitting conclusion to a session dominated by Democrats who used their majorities in the two chambers, plus Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, to push through most of a very ambitious agenda.
The $52.4 billion two-year budget passed the House on a 57-41 vote shortly after clearing the Senate on a 27-21 vote. It counts on roughly $1 billion from new taxes on vaping products, and higher taxes on big banks, oil refiners, professional service businesses and sellers of expensive properties.
It steers millions of additional dollars into special education in public schools and adds treatment beds in hospitals and private facilities for those with behavioral health issues.
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