This week, the fourth and last full week prior to the May 25 sine die, started out no different than the prior weeks of this thirty day special session.  However that has appeared to change as of last night.

The House, previously scheduled to return to Olympia on Monday, is now scheduled to come back to town on Saturday and work every day through May 25.  Tomorrow the House Ways & Means Committee is set to hold a marathon session of public hearings and executive actions on a series of bills ranging from reorganizing and streamlining central service functions, powers, and duties of state government to requiring extraordinary revenue growth to be transferred to the budget stabilization account.

In the meantime, the Senate is on the floor all day today moving several bills through the process.

Word on the street is that the higher level of activity on The Hill is being pushed by movement on several key policy issues that have separated the two chambers during the regular session and for most of the first special session, such as the state debt limit where a compromise may split the difference between the House and Senate positions. In addition policymakers are rumored to be close to a budget deal.

The one issue that may continue to cause havoc is workers’ compensation. Reports suggest that the Governor has shared a compromise that would be a hybrid between settlements and pensions.