5.24.17 

Suggested lead:  The first special session ended Tuesday morning in Olympia, and within minutes the Speaker of the House gaveled special session 2.0 to life. Dan Frizzell has that story.

Wrap (:76 total):  For several weeks now, the Republican majority in the state Senate has boycotted serious budget negotiations, insisting that Democrats OK a multibillion-dollar tax hike before comprehensive talks can start.  That’s a demand that majority House Democrats have rejected out of hand, and now that a second special session has begun, the Republicans have come up with a new twist to avoid working on a compromise, bipartisan budget.  Here’s House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan.

SULLIVAN: “Republicans have said that they won’t come to the table until we’re done with the education budget.  Well, the education budget works in concert with the rest of the budget. Ignoring the rest of the budget while you’re only dealing with McCleary means that we could be here for quite some time.  We need to pick up the pace.  I think again, if they’re willing to put the same type of work ethic and cooperation on the rest of the budget that they’re doing with K-12, we could get an agreement here very soon.” [:25]

Even without budget talks, the full House plans to meet Thursday to vote on a number of policy bills, including several that were approved earlier this year but reverted back to the House when the Senate failed to act.  In Olympia, Dan Frizzell.