3.29.16

Suggested lead:   Washington state lawmakers wrapped up their special session near midnight Tuesday with a final agreement on a bipartisan budget.  Dan Frizzell has that story.

Wrap (:83 total): 

SULLIVAN:  "You know, the art of comprise is, you have to come together.  And that's what we did in this budget." [:05]

After a short regular session and a shorter special session, lawmakers in Olympia finally saw eye to eye on adjustments to the two-year state budget on Tuesday and put the Capitol in their rear-view mirrors. The budget they agreed on was, as House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan says, a compromise between the Democratic House and Republican Senate.  Neither chamber got everything on its wish list, but most observers are calling it a victory for the Democrats, who were able to overcome resistance to make, quoting Sullivan, "incremental progress" in four key areas:  easing the teacher shortage, improving mental health services, narrowing the opportunity gap in Washington's K-12 schools, and addressing the state's growing homelessness crisis. 

SULLIVAN:  "In the end you have to compromise, and that's what we did.  We compromised with the Senate Republicans to get a budget that could move our state forward. This is a supplemental budget, but it's the budget that'll move our state forward over this next period of time, recognizing that when we come in next January, we're going to fight very hard in the next biennial budget to make additional progress in these critical areas." [:17]. 

The next Legislature won't be seated until January 2017, but Sullivan, a Democrat from Covington, and other legislative leaders are already laying plans for that session, when lawmakers will need to complete their multi-year, multi-billion-dollar effort to fully fund Washington's public schools.  In Olympia, I’m Dan Frizzell.