[AUDIO] Lawmakers in Olympia put in a long day Thursday to wrap up their annual session on schedule. Dan Frizzell with the House Democratic Caucus has more.
TRANSCRIPT:
Highlights of day 60 of the 2026 session were final passage of three supplemental budgets, the retirement of a legislative giant, and the ceremonial fanfare involved in the close of a legislative session. The most notable event was passage of the supplemental operating budget that will keep the state in business till the end of the current biennium. The original budget was produced during the 2025 session, but in even-numbered years the Legislature makes adjustments based on population growth, changes in state revenue, and emerging needs. This year’s version cuts spending in several areas and results in a net increase of about $two billion dollars, much of which is to make up for money taken from states by the federal passage of H.R. 1. Representative Timm Ormsby, the Spokane Democrat who chairs the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, spoke during the debate.
ORMSBY: “This protects the people of Washington from very harmful cuts that have come from the federal government. We backfilled many of those harmful cuts as best we could. This is not a perfect budget. This is the best that we could do, knowing what we knew, in order to be able to set Washington up for success.” [:19]
The supplemental operating budget, as expected, passed on a near-party-line vote with Democrats on the prevailing side. Supplemental transportation and construction spending plans were also OK’d before the final gavel. Lawmakers will kick off a new session on January 11, 2027. In Olympia, Dan Frizzell.